Visitor
by Serenity's Ghost
Summary: Who is she? And why on Earth does she look just like Nina? She can't be...Sequel to "Make Me Fall". Rex & Original Character.
1. Chapter 1

**Standard Disclaimer: I do not own Rex or Providence or any of that awesomeness.**

**Also, I make a bit of reference to a mind reader, from my other fanfic, Make Me Fall. Please read. Okay, maybe it started off as a *bit* of reference but before I knew it, it was a lot of reference, so you must read it before you start this one or else you won't have the full story. Sorry if that turns you off from reading this. Thanks if you still want to.**

I was awakened by the sounds of blaring alarms, signalling a large caravan coming into base. I rubbed a hand over my face as a reflex. It was ten in the morning, way too early for them to be doing any serious operations. What was it?

Bobo was still sleeping soundly, making about as much noise as your everyday tractor. How I slept in the same room as the monkey, I had no idea. It only proved how awesome I was.

I got up and tidied up as quickly as I could, rushing through the shower and dressing into my usual clothes. Just as soon as I entered the hall just outside of my room, Six and Holiday were headed in my direction. I heard someone laugh. Neither Six nor Holiday's lips had moved, and it was a girl's laugh anyway.

"Oh, Rex, you're awake. We have someone to introduce to you," Six said, usual stoic tone and facial expression. A girl overtook him and came into sight, wearing a tee-shirt that was loose and ripped in half, cargo pants and military boots that went all the way to her knees. Her hair was short, black and straight and she had a graceful face, happy and rather cheerful.

"So, this is my breakout buddy. Nice to meet you, Rex," she said. Her voice was somewhat heavy, nothing like, say, Breech's and a lot nicer to the ears. She full out tackled me into a hug and my brain was still sleeping so that it hadn't yet occurred to me to hug back or something. She pulled back. "Still asleep, huh? I can understand that. I can't hug people the moment I wake up either."

It struck me that she was reading my mind, somewhat like a certain girl I'd met on a beach on one of my runaway days. The flash of memory about Nina made me feel a bit grave and snapped me awake.

"Hey, what's wrong?" she asked.

"She's very perceptive, Rex. Be careful around her," Six warned. She gave a laugh at his comment.

"It's not my fault I know people by their reactions," she answered, still glowing brightly with happiness.

"Hey, who are you, anyway?" I asked finally.

"Oh, right, my name. I'm Nina. Call me Jenna," she said.

"Nina? No way. Are you a mind reader?"

"A mind reader? No. Odd question to ask someone off the bat like that."

"Oh, sorry. You looked like someone I met before. Her name was Nina, too."

"What happened to her?"

"I think she died."

"Oh, that's why you got all downy-dumps like that. I'm guessing you were close to her."

"I only knew her for a day."

"That doesn't say anything. I fell in love with a guy in a day once. Then I had to kill him."

"What?"

"He turned out to be my enemy. I didn't have a choice." My facial expression must have been alarmed because she chuckled. "I'm just kidding. Oh, well, let's go get some breakfast, Rex." I threw a look at Six and Holiday.

"You go on ahead. I've got some things to discuss with Six."

"Alright. Just don't say anything too mean about me while I'm gone. I prefer if people insult me to my face. Later." She skipped off down the hall with ease and nonchalance and disappeared.

"No, seriously, who is that chick?" I demanded.

"White's brought her in. She phases in and out, kind of like Breech but different. We're going to run some tests and test her powers to see if she can be useful to us. We found her just this morning taking down some EVOs and then she asked if she could come with us."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that. I wouldn't be surprised if she's the mind reader you thought she was."

"I don't know. My Nina was cheerful like she is and hugged me straight off the bat like she did but I thought she had died."

"We searched the Bay after we got you and found no trace of a girl."

"You went looking for her?"

"We couldn't just let it go since you refused to tell us about her. She could have been dangerous."

"She wasn't dangerous, Six. I know she wasn't. She was sweet."

"If you say so, kid. Mind telling us about her now? They might be the same person, since you say they're so similar."

"Come on, Six, we can't make him tell us if he doesn't want to," Holiday said.

"It's okay, Doctor. I have to tell you sometime, don't I?"

"You don't have to, Rex," she insisted.

"No, he's right. If they're the same person, I'll want to know. Can we head to my room?"

"Of course. Wherever you're comfortable, Rex."

We walked through the door just behind me into my room and two pairs of eyes were looking at me expectantly.

"You might want to sit down," I told them. They sat on my bed and I began to pace, knowing that at some point they were going to say something disdainful at what had happened. Looking back on it, it was probably one of the most reckless days I had, seeing as I wasn't dealing with just EVOs but someone's heart. I hadn't really lied to her though…well, I wasn't sure. I exhaled and continued pacing.

"Well?" Six said, impatient. Holiday elbowed him lightly and he just raised an eyebrow at her. I stopped and faced them.

"So, that day that I escaped from the Keep and ended up Avis Bay, I met this girl named Nina. I didn't notice her at first because I was just looking at the beach and thinking that I was finally on my own for a bit. Then, out of nowhere, this huge snaky EVO came out of the water and started attacking me but then it stopped and I cured it and it returned into the water."

"What does this have to do with the girl?" Six asked, cutting me off.

"Well, wait for it, would ya? This is all part of the story."

"Go on, Rex," Holiday prompted.

"Afterwards when I was just looking at the length of the beach I noticed this girl with shoulder-length black hair and an orange sundress stooping by the water's edge. I went over to her but at first she didn't say anything. Then, out of the blue, she touches my face and hugs me and says in my ear that I'll find my past and who I am in the future and calls me by name without me having given it.

"I was freaked out and started asking her how she knows me and she makes a comment about a thought I had had when I was walking up to her. Eventually she told me that her name was Nina and that she was a mind reader and she saw the future and that when she touched me she saw some of my past thoughts and memories. She told me I don't have a chance with you, Doc, so I don't know how right she really is."

"She might be more right than you think," she mumbled. I pretended not to hear that one.

"_Anyway_, she asked me to spend the day with her and I was sceptical at first, but then she started telling me that she…"

"She what, Rex? Try not to leave anything out," Holiday said.

"It's…kind of embarrassing," I admitted.

"Just spit it out," Six reprimanded.

"How bad can it be, Rex?" she responded.

"She told me that she wanted to make me fall in love with her that day."

Their faces changed, like they totally hadn't been expecting that one. Honestly, neither had I that day.

"Well, did you?" Six asked, face still mostly expressionless.

"Can I tell the whole story, please?" They didn't say anything and I continued. "I told her about Circe and she told me that it was a mutual thing between us but she warned me that if I chose Circe it wouldn't end well. I asked how she knew that and she told me that she knew her, that they had been best friends and Circe chose Van Kleiss instead of her and that was the end of their friendship.

"I tried defending Circe, trying to be fair to her even if I didn't agree with what she was doing, and she told me that she knew how hard it was and she still chose the right choice. She told me that she had been an orphan since birth and her brother from the orphanage was the only family she had. She said how Van Kleiss got to him and she chose not to go with him and was left with nothing after that.

"I told her I'd spend the day with her and she explained that the reason why she wanted me to fall for her was because she saw me say it to her, that I loved her, and she just wanted to hear me say it. She neglected to tell me though that when a person sees their own future that it usually means death is imminent."

"How was she supposed to calmly tell you something like that, Rex? Think about it," she said.

"I dunno, Doc, but I still think she should have told me. She could have let me bring her to Providence and you could have tried to do something about it. It wouldn't have been a waste of time; if it had succeeded, we could have had a psychic on our side. Anyway, I told her to try her best and we spent the day just talking and gathering driftwood for a fire later and walking along the Bay. Then, we watched the sunset and…"

"Come on, Rex. Just tell us," Holiday pushed.

"She kissed me." For a second, her face looked utterly surprised and then deathly curious.

"As in, she kissed you? On the lips? Like, your first kiss?"

"Doc, this isn't gossip. Don't look so interested. And I don't know if it was my first kiss; amnesia, remember?" I pointed at my head and she covered her smile with a hand.

"I'm sorry. Go on." I started pacing again.

"Right. So after the sunset, she was lying on the sand and she asked me if I had anything to tell her and so I told her."

"Told her what?" It appeared to me that Holiday was enjoying this story a little too much. She needed to go watch a good chick flick, apparently. In any case, she should have been wanting to keep me all to herself.

"That I loved her. I don't know if I meant it or not, but it just kind of seemed like the right thing to say at the moment so I did. And then she fell asleep and at some point I fell asleep and next thing I know, I wake up to the sound of the chopper and she's gone."

"You don't know when she left or where she went or might have gone?"

"I knew her for less than a day, Doc."

"But you told her you lov—"

"That's different."

"Sure it is. Anything else?"

"She left a note in the sand saying '_Thanks for everything, Rex. I feel the same way. Don't forget me, please_' but then Six came for me. You told me about the little known about psychics and, well, you were there for the rest of that."

I stopped pacing and saw Six and Holiday glance at each other and then they were just staring at me.

"What?" I asked, shrugging. After another few seconds of staring, Six got up.

"Well, Doctor Holiday, I think you can handle finding out if they're the same person. I'll run some searches," he said. He was out of my room a second later.

"Boy, was that story too much for Six," I said.

"She was some girl, Rex. I wish I could have met her. She could probably have told us some important things about Circe and maybe we would have gotten her over to our side. I'm sorry we couldn't find her."

"It's okay, Doc. There wasn't much that we could do. She gave us practically nothing to go on."

"You didn't get a last name or the name of the orphanage or her brother's name?"

"No. She didn't tell me many specifics. She told me about her interests mainly and some stories of what happened to her, but no solid stuff. And her brother died serving Van Kleiss."

"We'll still try to find something on her. Finding nothing isn't finding a body. She might still be alive."

"And if she is, I'll want to know." She stood and headed for the door.

"Later, Rex. I'm going to go see about what I can dig up. You should go join her for breakfast."

"Oh, right. Okay."

I sat across from her at the table with my tray and she laughed.

"Wow. Took you long enough. I already finished eating. Twice," she said. I gave her a long look.

"Wow, you can really pack it away. Cool. So, tell me about yourself, Nina."

"I told you to call me Jenna. And there's not much to tell. I teleport but I don't open portals like that Breech girl everyone seems to be comparing me to."

"Got any family?"

"Nope."

"Friends?"

"Not exactly."

"Boyfriend?"

"Interested?"

"Hey, I'm just asking."

"Covering your bases. Cool, I get it. Why don't you tell _me_ about yourself?"

"I've been working with Providence for about six years now. Apart from that, there's not much to tell. I don't remember anything before that."

"Amnesia?"

"Yeah."

"Rough. But you have a new family now, don't you?"

"Yeah. Providence is my family."

"And from now on, it's mine, too. Cheers to that." She clinked her empty glass to my half-full one and just then, Six came up behind her.

"Nina," he began.

"Jenna," she corrected, rolling her eyes and apparently fed-up of correcting people. She turned to face him.

"Doctor Holiday would like to take a look at you."

"I'm sure she would. At least she's beautiful." She got up and walked away without another word and Six just stood there with one eyebrow raised and I shrugged. I watched her just as she was walking out of sight and I noticed half of a tattoo showing from the exposed part of her back—quite literally, half of her back.

"Six, did you see that tattoo?" I said. She was some girl to have a huge tattoo on her back. "How old is she?"

"Almost sixteen."

"My age?"

"What about it?"

"I dunno. It just seems like a radical thing to do, getting a tattoo that size at sixteen. Then again, who knows how long she's had it." For some odd reason, I really wanted to see the whole thing. But if that was only half, then the only way I could see the whole thing was if she was topless...

"Maybe you should ask her about it," Six suggested, still looking at me with a raised brow. I was just thankful he cut my thoughts off right there.

"Yeah no. How long is she gonna be in there?"

"Don't know. Doctor Holiday might want to do a thorough check-up and run some blood work." He proceeded to walk away but then turned, seeming to remember something. "Oh, and Rex, she's going to be your new partner if she proves useful."

"What?"

"See you later, kid."

**Please leave a review. I'd love to get some feedback. I won't pester for reviews of every chapter but reviews are appreciated somewhere along the story. Please. *tries not to look like she's begging*...**


	2. Chapter 2

~o~

**Doctor Holiday's Point of View**

She walked into my office and I swivelled around in my chair and gave her a smile, holding a clipboard in my hand.

"Come right in and have a seat, Jenna," I said.

"Finally, someone gets my name right!" she lamented. I gave a small laugh and she sat on the bed of the CT scanner and I came over.

"I'm just going to do a simple health exam before we get started, okay?"

"Alright. Whenever you're ready."

I started off taking some blood and then tested her reflexes and lastly her eyes. While I was working, I noticed her studying me closely.

"So that's why Rex likes you so much. You're hot." I gave a small smile and then gave her a long look.

"Are you—"

"Straight as a needle, Doc. I just know pretty girls when I see them. I also know stress when I see it, and you're it, Doc. When was the last time you went to a spa?"

"That was a long time ago."

"Then I know what we're doing on Friday."

"Jenna, I can't leave. There are things to do."

"And they'll always be here. If you collapse from overwork, there's no one to replace you. Come one, Doc. My treat. It'll be fun."

"I don't know."

"Just think about it, alright?" I exhaled.

"Alright. Now for the physical. I'm going to need you to strip."

"Where's the pole?" she laughed. I shook my head.

"Great, you're almost as ridiculous as Rex." She took off her shirt and started removing the rest once she'd turned around. Naturally, I didn't expect her to be absolutely comfortable with it.

"Hey, we add flavour to the world. Trouble is the spice of life."

Once she was naked, I could see an enormous tattoo covering most of her back. There were large wings covering the most of the top and centred on her back and there was an eagle at the point where the wings were supposed to connect. A few small stars and miscellaneous swirled patterns were scattered around the main piece. It was a very intricate and well-decorated tattoo. It must have hurt like hell. When she was clothed, you could see just the feet of the eagle and the bottom of the large wings and the decorations around it.

"That's an awfully big tattoo you've got there," I commented. The statement seemed to surprise her; she tried to glance at her back.

"Oh, that. Since I can't see it well, I don't think about it much. I got it when I was ten. It's smart-ink so when I grew, it kept its shape." I came to her and started to examine her back and the skin beneath the tattoo.

"Was it just a whim or does it have some special meaning?" Her answer came a few seconds later, clearly the product of some deliberation.

"A bit of both." I gathered that the truth behind it must have been a secret.

"If we find out you're a spy, we won't hesitate to kill you." I was just throwing it out there just in case. You could never be too careful. Her responding laugh made me relax a little. I turned her by her shoulders gently and she turned willingly.

"I'll keep that in mind. But, don't worry. I'd make a terrible spy. Keeping secrets isn't my forte. I have a big mouth."

"I'll keep my thoughts to myself then."

"Well, I appreciate a bit of gossip. I love to hear people vent their frustration, too. Besides, we're kind of the only girls on the inside like this. The others are either assistants or soldiers and I'm sure you're not very good friends with any of them. I've got your back." She beamed a big smile at me and I laughed, smiling back. Something about her cheeriness was infectious.

"I'll keep that in mind."

It wasn't too long before I was finished and I had her put her clothes back on. After she was dressed, she shouted to me and I approached her again.

"Well, you're healthy, for the most part," I declared. "Your nanites are in good condition, too. So far, you seem to be as healthy as a regular person."

"So, I won't die today. Great. Can you show me around the Petting Zoo, you know, since we're like best friends and whatnot?" I gave a small laugh and returned to my paperwork.

"I'd love to but I can't. Rex will take you, though."

"Rex? Oh, okay, cool. Just don't overwork yourself, Doctor. Your favourite test subject might hurt me if he thinks I messed with his girl," she said, laughing. I turned around to retort but she was already gone.

"That girl is going to be one handful," I said to myself. The last thing we needed was a female Rex in the building and she seemed to certainly be that. I cracked a smile. "Though, she is nice."


	3. Chapter 3

~o~

The door to my room opened and instead of the usual Six, as I was expecting, Jenna appeared in the doorway.

"Hey, Rex. You free?" she asked.

"Uh, sure. What's up?"

"Doc Holiday told me to ask you for a tour around the Petting Zoo. I asked her to come with me but she turned me down for work. Apparently, she's immune to my feminine charm." In very Six fashion, I raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm kidding. I'm straight," she said quickly.

"People _could_ get the wrong impression if you keep talking like that, though."

"I know. It's fun, toying with people." I got up from my bed and actually took the time to look at her for the first time since we met. Her tee-shirt had a cartoon monkey on it, the words 'good monkey, bad attitude' written on the top and most of her stomach was exposed because the shirt was ripped in half. She was tiny and fit...and the first girl I knew who actually had abs. Like, visible, defined abs. I managed to rip my eyes away. Something told me that when she got in fights, she didn't usually lose.

"Maybe we should get you a new shirt," I said, without thinking.

"Why, what's wrong with my shirt?"

"It looks like it's been ripped."

"It has."

"Then maybe we should get you a new one." She chuckled.

"I'm the one who ripped it, though." I must have made a face because she shrugged and gave a smile. "What? It's hard to move around when you're wearing too much clothes. Your clothes are fitted so you can move around in them. Mine, I just buy them where I can and _fix_ them accordingly. So, are we going to not?"

We took our time as we walked and I pointed out Blinky and some of the other EVO types we had in the Zoo. After the tour, she took a seat on a tree branch and I noticed her studying me.

"So, how long have you been on your own?" I asked her.

"Hm? Oh, maybe about most of my life. The family is kind of nonexistent as far as I know so I've had to fend for myself pretty much. I've done odd jobs around for cash, nothing too extreme or criminal, don't worry, and I've tried my best not to make enemies, so I'm doing pretty okay." I must have been staring at her for a long moment, because she smiled and shrugged. "What?"

"Nothing. You just look like someone I used to know."

"That Nina girl you mentioned before?"

"Yeah."

"Tell me about her."

"We were friends for like a day. I don't know what happened to her."

"Did you like her or something?" I really didn't know how to answer and luckily, I didn't have to. A message over the P.A. system in the Zoo called for us both to come back upstairs to the training area. I generated the Rex Ride and put my goggles on.

"Hop on. We've gotta go." She got on and I drove as fast as I could so she couldn't try to get the answer out of me. But she was holding on pretty tightly. My ribs felt at danger. We came to a stop but her grip didn't lighten. "Um, Jenna, could you let go? You're breaking my ribs."

"Oh, sorry," she replied, letting go. I rubbed my side and we went inside.

They brought us up to one of the training rooms and Captain Callan was waiting for us with Six and Holiday.

"Hey, Captain Callan. What's up?" I asked.

"We're going to release one of the EVOs we captured this morning to see exactly how you might work together. Since you're going to be partners, we can't have that you can't work together," Callan answered right away.

"Don't you think we should at least go through some training first?"

"Oh, come on, Rex. Let's see if we have an affinity to each other," she replied, winking at me. "Hold on. I'll be right back. Got to get my shield."

"Jenna, wait—" She was already running back to somewhere. "That reminds me, where is she staying?"

"She's in your old room, Rex," Six answered.

"That broom closet? She's gonna suffocate in there!"

"She hasn't complained."

"She's a nomad. They don't complain about much."

"I'm back!" she yelled, running in from the hall. There was a long black case in her hands and she set in down a few feet from me. "Just give me five seconds for assembly."

"Assembly?" I repeated.

She opened the case and in three seconds flat, she assembled a long, black sniper rifle and was looking through the scope.

"Let's go hunting," she said.

"Wow," was all I could say.

"It's not much but it's as effective for me as those machines that come out of your body."

"Where did you get that?" Six asked, looking as stunned as his face knew how to look (which wasn't much seeing how stoic he was).

"Let's just say I'm not the best person to bet against if you want to keep your money or your wager."

"You guys ready?" Callan asked.

"Thrill me," we answered together. We looked at each other and she gave me a smile. Callan pressed a button and an EVO a few inches taller that Six ran straight for us. My first move was to pull out my BFS and proceed to chop down the EVO. I got in one slash and then it slapped me aside and three of Jenna's rounds hit the EVO, causing it to yell. Just as I hit the floor, I saw her advancing towards it, shooting as she went and each of her shots got the EVO. It made a strike for her as she approached it and she managed to flip to the side, out of its way just in time. Some girl. I was impressed.

I got to my feet, knowing that I wasn't afforded the luxury of watching her fight because this was supposed to be a team thing. She started running backwards, no longer looking into the scope and no longer shooting and I took that as my cue to use my Smack Hands to send the EVO flying into the nearest wall.

"Now, Rex! Cure it!" she shouted at me, looking through the scope and aiming at it just in case. I used the Punk Busters to jump across the room in one bound and put my hand on the thing to cure it. A man slumped to the floor and two Providence officers came to get the guy, followed by Doctor Holiday. I walked over to Jenna who was grinning at me.

"How was that for teamwork?" she said. I gave her a smile.

"I'd say we were awesome."

"That's 'cause we are. High five, partner?" I gave her a high five and them she turned and walked back to the case. Then it hit me.

"Hold on. Didn't you say you were going for your shield?"

"I did. I call my rifle 'Shield'. A good offence is a good defence." I gave her a look and she laughed. If it didn't hit me before, it hit me now; she was nuts. But there was something just a little refreshing about it...kind of like Nina. She disassembled it just as quickly as she assembled it and picked up the now full case. "Is it lunch yet? I'm getting hungry. Will that be all, fellas?" she said, turning towards Six and Callan. They both gave her a long look.

"You can go," Six said finally.

"Thank you. Come on, Rex. Let's go forage for food." She grabbed my hand and pulled me as she ran off into the hall.

"I'm impressed, Jenna. Where'd you learn to use a rifle like that?" I asked as we walked. I noticed that she didn't let go of my hand and I didn't plan on saying anything. Why? Again, I did not know.

"Well, after I won it, I figured I couldn't own something I couldn't use so I trained with it. EVOs being everywhere can be helpful."

"By yourself? That's amazing." We ended up at her room and she placed the case under her bed. Looking at it, it seemed tiny compared to my new room. "Don't worry. I'll try to convince Six to get you a bigger room."

"No need. I don't need a lot of space. This is perfect. Trust me, the biggest problem I'll make for Providence is with feeding me. Besides, I doubt this place has very many rooms for living. If I wanted a bigger room, they might just put us in the same room," she said, giving a laugh at the end. "And that's something you're not ready for."

"What do you mean by tha—"

"I'm messing with you, don't worry. There was no meaning behind that one...sorta. Now let's go find food." I eyed her warily but then she grabbed my hand again and pulled me to the cafeteria.


	4. Chapter 4

~o~

Just as we were heading for the cafeteria, Noah appeared.

"Hey, Rex," he called, waving. Then he noticed the person dragging me. "Whoa." She stopped pulling me and we stood next to him.

"Hey, Noah. This is my new partner, Jenna," I replied.

"Partner? As in, she's an EVO?"

"Probably," she replied, shrugging.

"Oh, nice to meet you, Jenna," he said, extending a hand.

"Oh, I don't shake hands," she said, a serious expression on her face and shaking her head.

"Oh," he said, dropping his hand. She tackled him with a hug.

"Nice to meet you, too, Noah," she said, laughing. His face was surprised.

"Yeah, she has that effect on people," I said. He hugged back for a second and then she let go.

"Rex and I were heading to the cafeteria. Wanna come?" she said.

"Uh, sure, if it's alright with Rex."

"Huh? Why wouldn't I be alright with it?" I asked. Jenna headed for the cafeteria and we followed behind.

"Well, you were holding hands," Noah said. "I just thought what any normal person would think if they saw that."

"She was dragging me. There wasn't anything remotely romantic about it!"

"You know I'm not deaf, right?" she commented, over her shoulder. Noah started whistling and she chuckled as we got through the door and she ran for the fridge.

We sat down with a few snack cakes and a bar of chocolate which we shared and Noah was busy asking her questions that she seemed too eager to answer. I ended up eating most of the bar of chocolate because the two of them were so busy talking. He was telling her all about the adventures we had together and I couldn't say much more than make commentary. He asked about the huge tattoo on her back.

"Doc Holiday asked about it, too, 'cept she's seen the whole thing. I could show you, but you better hope nobody walks in or no amount of explaining is gonna make it look any better." Noah looked at me and grinned and I was too busy worrying about if someone did walk in.

"I dunno, Jenna—" I started protesting.

"I won't flash you. I promise. Though I'm sure you'd probably like that," she said, smirking. She turned around and lifted the back of her shirt and the blue sports bra under it to reveal an intricate tattoo of large wings with an eagle at the centre. My eyes were glued to it. It was amazing. "You boys done gawking yet?"

"It's so cool," Noah said. "Must have hurt like hell." She fixed her clothes and faced us.

"Like a bitch is more like it. Oops, sorry, language," she said, putting a hand over her mouth. "He always told me I shouldn't curse—" She cut off, like she said more than she should have.

"Who did?" I asked, automatically. It was my nature to want to know exactly what people didn't want me to.

"A friend. Long gone," she answered after a second.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Noah said. She pepped back up.

"No need. Death is part of life. Anyway, you missed our wicked teamwork this morning. You should have come earlier."

"Yeah, we make a great team," I responded. She gave me a fist bump and then fished a piece of electronics from her pocket, searching for something.

"Here," she said, handing it to him. He watched it with rapt attention.

"No way. You recorded all of that?" I asked.

"Something told me it was going to be epic so I turned on the camera on Shield's case. Usually it's anti-theft but just this time, I thought we needed to record this. Hacking Provi's network seemed too much trouble for a video so I recorded it and the camera sent it straight to this. In any case, if I failed, watching you kick ass—I mean butt—is always entertaining."

After it was done, he put it on the table and she put it back in her pocket.

"That _was_ epic. Seriously. And quick. And the whole building wasn't destroyed," Noah said.

"Why'd you come to Providence?" I asked.

"Because I wanted to help, like, really help. You guys do that so I said, 'hey, what the heck'. I've gotten to see you in action up close once or twice, Rex, so I thought that that was the place to go for true action. Plus, being a nomad gets a little depressing. It's a good thing tighty-Whitey decided to take me. I think I'll like it here."

"Don't bet on it. White's a slave driver and Six barely lets me leave."

"Don't worry, Rex. I'll deal with that last one. Consider your free time booked. Doc Holiday and I have a date already, too. Seriously, I'm going to turn this place upside down. You're going to know the meaning of fun by the time I'm through with you." Noah gave her a look.

"A date?" he asked.

"Uh-huh."

"She just means they're going somewhere. It's not a _date_ date," I clarified.

"Aw, come on, Rex. No need to spoil my fun. You know I like messing with people. You're just jealous I get to take the pretty girl out."

"I was her date to a formal function once, so there."

"Fine, for now, you win. But when we come back, don't think I won't boast."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm so not telling you. Because then you'll know I win big time."

"Now I'm really curious." She laughed.

"Of course you are." Doctor Holiday came through the door.

"Oh, there you are, Jenna. We wanted to do some more evaluations of you. Can you come with me? Oh, hi Noah," she said.

"Hey, Doc," he replied.

"Coming," she said. She got up and leaned over to us. "See you later, boys. This might take a while so I'll find you later." She walked off and I noticed Noah's eyes following her.

"Man, you got some chick as a partner," he said once they'd left.

"She's just like Nina. Must explain why I get along with her so well."

"Nina? You mean the girl you met at Avis Bay? Wow. Can't say she's all yours, though."

"Go for it, if you want. She's my partner. Don't you know what happens to people who get too attached to their partners? Bad stuff always happens to them in the movies and then suddenly, they become the bad guy."

"You're watching too much movies, man."

"Sure. You say that now. It'll save us someday."


	5. Chapter 5

~o~

Noah and I played basketball for hours but Jenna never showed up and when it was time for him to go, I returned to base. I wasn't really tired but they turned the lights out early so I had to at least be in my room by then. I lied in my bed and threw a ball against the wall just to keep my hands busy. My mind was busy, rethinking and reliving that day I'd spent with Nina at Avis Bay. Fundamentally, Nina and Jenna seemed similar. Jenna was a bit rowdier, had a cursing problem, seemed more reckless and had a habit of saying ridiculous and alarming things for the sake of seeing people's facial expressions. My Nina had been almost carefree and open and the day we spent together felt like it was just all about us. Maybe given the right setting, they would seem the same. Not that I wanted Jenna to be Nina. I just wondered if they were that similar to almost seem like the same person in the right situation. The lights were already out and I still wasn't sleepy. Thoughts of her kept filling my mind. Maybe I had really fallen in love with her that day, or at least the part of her that I had been able to see. But there was still something between Circe and me...

My door opened and when I looked to see who it was, Jenna was there. Most of her legs were exposed because of the shorts that she was wearing but this time she was wearing a whole tee-shirt. It occurred to me that she didn't like clothes very much. She had nice legs though.

"Hey, Rex, you're up, right?" she whispered.

"Come on in, Jenna. You okay?" I answered.

"I can't sleep. I'm really tired, but I can't sleep."

"Too much excitement for one day?"

"No, I think maybe it was the last thing for the day. Bobo thought it would be funny if he stole my clothes while I was showering and I had to chase him in a towel to get them back. All the people who work here must think I'm out of control."

"I can see how you give off that impression." I gave her a look and smiled so she knew I was only kidding. She was interesting and anybody who couldn't see the novelty of that wasn't worth experiencing it. She approached and lightly swatted my arm, sitting on the floor. "Uh, hey, you could come sit here with me, you know."

"It's cool, thanks. If I get too comfortable, I might just fall asleep. I'm just trying to exhaust myself until I know I'm going to go unconscious."

"Are you liking it here?"

"Pretty much. Hey, does Noah come here often?"

"Interested?"

"Jealous?"

"Holiday's my lady so I have nothing to be jealous about. I was just asking. He seems to like you."

"Does he now? He's not my type, though. I understand why you like Holiday so much; she's gorgeous and she's really nice. Every time she needed to take a blood sample she was worrying about if the needle hurt and stuff. She saw my tattoo and it didn't register to her that pain is something I bear easily. But I suppose it proves how sweet she really is. We just met and she cares about if she's hurting me." She snickered. "Gosh, the world needs more people like her."

"I hear ya. What did she do with you though?"

"We had early lunch and then she did a psych evaluation and checked out my concentration, memory and some physical limits. She had me lift weights and the whole nine yards. She was impressed with what I could do. Most people are. I think maybe that's why I dress like this, apart from why it's functional. Maybe people will see me and think that I can be dangerous and not underestimate me. I don't know. I can't understand my own thoughts sometimes."

"Just take it slow. Everyone's a little confused about themselves. It's something you have to find on your own." She chuckled.

"Profound. Maybe you should be a poet."

"Maybe."

"So, you never finished telling me the story about the Nina girl. Tell me about the day with her."

"You seem really interested in hearing about her."

"I'm a sap for a good romance, but you didn't hear that from me."

"Maybe you should tell me about the guy you fell for."

"He was tall, he was handsome, he was sweet. He told me all the things I wanted to hear and we did all the things I wanted. He was mine for a day. I fell in love with that illusion."

"I know what you mean. Sounds a lot like what my day with her was like."

"Fairytale stuff, huh? One minute it's there, the next it's gone."

"Brutal," I agreed. "Still want to hear the story?"

"Of course I do. Edit as you find necessary."

"Well, we met one day when I ran away and she had these extraordinary powers. She asked me to spend the day and I did. We had a lot of fun together and then we watched the sunset and slept on the sand. When I woke up, she was gone and Providence had come for me. I think she died. She was a psychic who saw her own future and that only happens as they're about to die. What really happened to your guy?" I waited a long moment and there was no response. "Jenna?" Her breathing was calm and still and her head was resting dependently on my bed. I got up as slowly and carefully as I could and gently picked her up and carried her to her room. It was miraculous how she didn't stir. I very carefully laid her in bed, pulled the covers over her and headed back out of the room. "Goodnight, Jenna," I said, softly over my shoulder. I couldn't be sure if she had really responded since it was so faint, but I thought I heard her say 'goodnight, Rex' very softly.


	6. Chapter 6

~o~

**Doctor Holiday's Point of View**

Jenna poked her head into my office and I only noticed her in my peripheral vision.

"Doc!" she whispered rather loudly. It was so ridiculous. If she was trying to be sneaky, she was failing. Someone probably already saw her. I chuckled. "Doc!" she called again when I didn't answer immediately.

"Yes, Jenna," I replied, turning. She crouched like the way one of those cartoons would when they're trying to sneak around and came into my office. I laughed. It seemed to me like I was more prone to laughing when she was around. I turned back to my paperwork.

"Come on, Doc. It's Friday. Let's go."

"Go where?"

"Oh, come on, Doc. We talked about this earlier this week. Let's go to the spa."

"I can't go, Jenna. Suppose someone needs me?"

"Yeah, and they'll need you more if you're dead. Come on. Just two hours. We'll come right back. I promise you won't get in trouble." I turned to face her and just gave her a long look. When would she understand how important it was for me to stay where Providence could reach me? EVOs popped up unexpectedly and I needed to be around for Rex and the soldiers. Van Kleiss could attack at any time and who knew what other dangers there were? "Stop worrying so much, Doc. I won't leave you to your work unless you come with me." She leaned over and put both her hands on my armrests and she gave me this devious look. It didn't take much sense to know she meant what she said. This week, we'd all learnt that she was serious about her words. I exhaled and closed my eyes for a second. Something told me I was going to regret this later.

"Alright. Just let me get my purse."

"No need. I'm bankrolling this."

"With what money?"

"Oh, I've got money. Don't you worry about that. Besides, I'm a regular where we're going. They like me there." I stood and evened out the papers I had been working on.

"How are we going to sneak out?" She looped her arm through mine and gave me a smile.

"We're taking the shortcut."

If I had blinked, I would have missed the whole thing. My legs felt like jelly from being a bit disoriented but when I looked around, we were in a Japanese themed spa before the front desk. A young woman clad in white looked up and gave a smile.

"Jenna! Nice to see you again. I see you've brought a friend," she said.

"This is the good Doctor Holiday. She's been making sure I'm not crazy and not gonna die. I believe I made an appointment for two facials and full-body massages."

"That you did. Down the hall, to my left." Arm still slinked with mine, she led me into a room and there was a massage bed there with a fluffy white robe resting on it.

"I'll be in the room next door, okay. My usual will take care of you," she said. She gave me a smile and disappeared. It wasn't my first instinct to relax, but I forced myself to take a few breaths and then get into the robe. I put my communicator in my lab coat pocket and hoped that no one would call.

The aesthetician walked in smiling and greeted me and she began shortly after. I could feel all my tight muscles loosening and my body starting to relax.

"Jenna told me you're under a lot of stress. I'll try my best to let you relax," the woman told me.

"She's a sweet girl. Do you know her well?"

"Jenna's one of our best customers. She comes to us for everything, from facials to wax to pedicures. She sends us Christmas and Easter cards every year since she found us and brings cookies sometimes. She's tried to be more than just a customer to us and somehow, we appreciate that. It's like she sees more to us than just people offering a service. She sees us for who we are, people trying to make a way in life and who need attention."

"I think I know what you mean. Her partner is a little like that, too."

"Partner?"

"She's working with a partner now. They seem almost made for each other. They get along well."

"It's a boy, isn't it?"

"How did you—"

"Jenna's a bit more tomboyish than most. She gets along excellently with guys. Some girls find her a little abrasive and unladylike."

"Granted, she's different. But underneath it all, she's a really good kid."

"That she is." The conversation ended there, but I continued to mull over what the aesthetician had said. Jenna was a really good kid but she _was_ rather unladylike. Then again, being a nomad must not have been the best way to learn manners.

A soft hand touched my back and I awakened, not knowing when I had fallen asleep. I felt totally at ease and relaxed, something I hadn't felt in so long. Most nights when I went to sleep, I just managed to fight the tension off long enough for unconsciousness to find me.

"You're done. When you're finished changing, meet me in front," the masseuse said. Slowly, I got up, stretched and put back on my clothes. When I saw my reflection, I looked more relaxed. Jenna had really known what I had needed. She deserved a big thank you for that.

She emerged from the room a few minutes after I did, looking well-rested and at ease.

"Well, you look like a million bucks, Doc," she said.

"You, too. Thank you for this. I can't thank you enough."

"Don't thank me just yet." I didn't know what she meant but my communicator came to life.

"Six to Holiday. Can you read me?" I sighed.

"I'm here. What's wrong?"

"Where are you?"

"I'm...out."

"Out where?" Jenna skipped to my side and took the communicator from my ear.

"We're coming, Six. Be right there." The girl at the desk said goodbye and Jenna laced her arm through mine and in a second, we were before Six and Callan and White was on the screen behind them.

"Doctor Holiday, can you tell me why you were out of the building without telling anyone and without permission?" White asked, looking like he was about to start shouting. "Might I remind you of your purpose here—"

"It's not her fault. I kidnapped her," Jenna burst in.

"Jenna—" I tried to stop her.

"Don't try to save me from this, Doc. It's my fault, I'll handle it," she told me, then facing the screen again. "See, the way I see it, if you let stress build up, it's like pressure in a manhole: it's gonna blow. She's important to this organisation so I took her out to blow off some steam. Because if she dies an early death, _you're_ the one who's gonna suffer for it. Any complaints, White?" My eyebrows shot up. She really was just like Rex. As far as I knew, he was the only other person who wasn't afraid to talk to White like that.

White himself seemed stunned. He just sat there, fingers knit before him, staring down at her with a disdaining look. Six turned to the screen.

"Nothing dire happened while she was away so it's not that grave. I think we can let them off this time," Six added.

"You listen to me, little lady. This organisation cannot afford to have its important people missing on a whim like that. Nothing happened this time, but something might happen next time and whatever happens will be all her fault. Do you understand me? This behaviour will not be tolerated—" White began.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ground me for a week or whatever it is you do. But I really did kidnap her so none of this is her fault."

"Ground you? We're not your parents, you know."

"Good thing, too. I'd hate to look like you." She seemed to stop herself and took a breath and changed her tone. "I'll try to avoid reckless outings but you've got to give Holiday some slack. She's not a robot. Can we let go of this now?" White narrowed his eyes.

"Watch it, young lady. I'll let this slide but don't think I'll be so forbearing next time." The screen went blank and she turned to leave the hall.

"Jenna—" I tried again.

"Let it go, Doc. I need a sec to calm down." She headed to the hall going to her room. I turned and saw Rex standing by the hall entrance, looking surprised. She brushed past him and we all heard her curse as she headed to her room. Rex cringed.

"You should head back to your office," Six suggested.

"Yeah, I should."

"Where did you go anyway?"

"She took me to a spa. I actually got to relax for once." I turned and headed down the hall behind us to my office. Just how was it that these people couldn't get what Jenna did? Granted, we shouldn't have run away but since nothing serious happened, such a fuss shouldn't have been made. Perhaps I was only saying that because I had been the suspect in question, but they cut Rex some slack all the time. Why should it have been any different for the rest of us working there? I understood where they were coming from and was just glad that she didn't get in a lot of trouble. Now it was time to get back to work.


	7. Chapter 7

~o~

I followed Jenna down the hall into her room despite my better judgement. She was pissed.

"Hey, Jenna, you...okay?" I asked. I knew it was a dumb question but that's how you usually start off these conversations, right? She spun around.

"Oh, yes, Rex! I'm fine! Just chipper! Of course I'm not okay! I'm pissed as hell!" She spun back around, raked a hand through her hair and took a deep breath. In another second, she was hugging me. "I'm sorry, Rex. You didn't deserve that. You're not the one I'm mad at. Please forgive me," she said, calmer, once she'd let go and took a step back.

"Hey, it's okay. White gets under my skin sometimes, too."

"I mean, yikes. I just wanted to do something nice for her because I can tell how stressed she is. Despite her name, I'm sure she doesn't get any holidays."

"Well, I kind of understand where he's coming from. I mean, even though he shouldn't be so harsh, EVOs don't take vacations and we can't predict attacks. We need to be ready for anything."

"I understand that but geez, no need to be such a hardass if nothing does happen. Sorry, Rex." I gave her a smile.

"Don't worry. You'll learn how to deal with it someday. I did. I know how to press White's buttons and which ones to press. Six helps me out though, and Holiday. See, they understand that I'm a _person_, something it took White forever to realise." She gave me a smile and took a half step closer.

"Thanks, Rex. I feel a lot better. How 'bout you get Noah and the monkey and we'll play some cards?"

"Sure, sounds good. But I should warn you, Bobo plays for money only."

"Don't worry. I got you and Noah covered. I'm gonna get all my money back anyway."

"Don't be so sure about that."

"Like I said, I'm not the best person to bet against if you want to keep your money."

Noah came over (coincidentally, he had been coming anyway) and when the monkey heard there was a chance to win some money, he jumped at the opportunity. Jenna threw five hundred dollars at me and Noah like it was nothing and our mirroring 'whoa's gained a laugh from her. She said that was nothing and it made me wonder exactly how loaded she was and where it was she really got all that money from.

"You're a demon," I told her, just having lost my last fifty dollars. She laughed, throwing back her head. It was charming, but she was a demon. Noah was down to his last ten and the real competition was between her and Bobo. At first, she had made it look like we were winning, but then she turned around and started taking all we had. I was out and the monkey had seven hundred. I sat back in my chair, knowing I was out.

"Oh, come on Rex. One more," she said.

"I have nothing else to bet."

"How about this: winner gets to wear your jacket for a day."

"My jacket?"

"Yeah, it's cool." I narrowed my eyes.

"I thought you didn't like wearing clothes." She laughed again.

"Oh, come on, Rex, that's just mean. I like clothes. I just always have to be ready for action. If I had a more normal life, then I'd wear more clothes. What do you say? You could win back all this money."

"Come on, kid. It's more fun when your butt is on the line," Bobo added.

"Hush, monkey. I'm going for your stash next," she retorted.

"My stash? What about blondie over there?"

"I'm gonna go easy on him for now. Whoping you has more prestige anyway."

"Oh, dream on, cupcake."

"Come on, Rex. Just one more game?" Noah said, smiling sheepishly.

"Oh, alright," I breathed, exasperated.

"Yay!" she and Bobo exclaimed. They seemed to enjoy beating me.

Big mistake. The last round was brutal. I've never seen Bobo look that sad before. Jenna piled all the money and I took off my jacket and handed it to her.

"I know when I'm beat. I should have stopped when I lost the money. Just be careful," I said. She put the jacket on and for some odd reason, seeing her wearing my jacket made me blush. She neatened the money into a stack and Bobo's hands were in the air, looking at the heavens.

"How could this happen? How could I lose? And to a girl, too! Why, crude fate?" he lamented.

"Don't blame fate. I'm not just a normal girl, Bobo. You didn't stand a chance to begin with."

"I say rematch, you and me, winner takes all. You cheated."

"Did not. And maybe tomorrow. Doc Holiday is coming in three...two...one."

Doc Holiday walked through the doorway just as she had predicted.

"How did you—" Noah voiced the question in all our heads.

"I heard her shoes clicking on the floor with the pattern of her walk." Bobo gave her a look.

"Jenna, can I see you for a minute?" she asked.

"Coming!" Jenna responded, she put the money in her pocket, flashed us all a smile and walked off. From the distance I could hear Doc asking her why she was wearing my jacket and her telling her all about our card game. Doc laughed and then I couldn't hear anymore.

"Her shoes on the floor? What is she?" Bobo asked.

"Amazing, that's for sure," I answered. I saw Bobo and Noah give each other a look and ignored it. When it boiled down, she _was_ amazing. It was just a fact.


	8. Chapter 8

**Since the series gave us insight into Rex's music taste I wanted to capitalise on that. Enjoy.**

~o~

It was calm and quiet. Well, relatively so. Base was still and everybody was about their usual rounds and duties when we weren't under attack or had something to deal with. Jenna walked past my room, whistling. Generally, that shouldn't have been a problem. Jenna was a special case.

"What are you doing?" I asked, walking out of my room. She spun around and gave a small smile, hands behind her back.

"Whatever do you mean, my darling Rex?" she said.

"'Darling Rex'? Something is definitely not right. What are you up to?" She grinned and turned around, bolting down the hall into the main operations room. I followed her as best as I could, nearly running into her when she stopped at the top of the stairs. Everyone was walking around, up to their work and ignoring us. Jenna looked over her shoulder at me, grinned and then headed downstairs. I didn't trust that look on her face. "Jenna, what are you doing?"

"Good thing you're here. Cause a distraction, why don't ya?"

"I'd like to know what we're doing first."

"We're turning this place into a club."

"What?" Before I could stop her, we were at one of the control panels and she was plugging her media player into it and pressing some buttons. I couldn't fathom how nobody was seeing that. Next thing I knew, music came blasting out of all the speakers in the room and everybody stopped what they were doing.

"Attention, Providence. This place has been, by order, turned into a club so let's get this party started!" she said into the mike nearby. She walked over to a soldier who she took by the hand and oddly enough spun him. She got his other hand and started dancing with him but then left and moved onto another guy. Some of the soldiers took a chance and started dancing but then White appeared on the big screen and the music shut down.

"What is the meaning of this?" he asked. Jenna came closer to the screen, next to me who was still by the control panel, and smiled wickedly, hands on her hips.

"Well, I didn't run away nor did I kidnap anyone. It's proven that listening to music while you work stimulates brain activity," she answered. I slapped my hand to my face. She was about to get chewed out again.

"Are you telling me that this was your bright idea? Rex, why didn't you try to stop her?" His tone was calm but I could tell he actually wanted to murder her. I opened my mouth to speak—say what, I didn't know—but was cut off.

"Rex? Stop me? That's a good one. I did promise I wouldn't try anything reckless and I kept my promise. Had something happened, it would have killed the music." He exhaled and put his twined fingers flat.

"Look, Jenna, you can't do things like this. First and foremost, this is a professional organisation and stunts like that just aren't professional."

"So, can Rex and I go out instead?"

"What?" White and I both said.

"There's a rock concert this evening and I've got tickets. Six can chaperone if it will make you feel better." He exhaled and closed his eyes for a second.

"Alright. But if we need you, you need to come back immediately. Anything to get rid of that pent up energy."

"Thanks, Whitey. Later." She removed her media player from the panel but then rethought it and plugged it back in. The music started back again, the volume lower and she started to walk away. "Enjoy," she shouted to the soldiers as she walked away. I ran to catch up to her, convinced that she was totally mental.

"What was all that?" I asked, walking ahead of her and stopping her.

"Two things: one, so the soldiers don't die of tedium and two, I got permission for us to go out."

"Was that all just so we could go out?"

"I just told you there were two reasons, Rex. Keep up." She patted my head and walked around me. "Call Noah and tell him we're going out."

"About Six—"

"Yeah, tell him he has to chaperone three crazy teenagers and a monkey at a rock concert."

"You're seriously taking him? And Bobo's going too?"

"But of course. You should already know I'm serious when I say things."

"I don't get you." She looped her arm through mine when I caught up.

"You probably never will. Women are scary. I don't get them and I'm supposed to be one of them. Anyway, call Noah and tell the monkey. I think I'll go see Six." She let go and then ran off.

"Yup. She's crazy," I said to myself. I wanted really badly to see Six's reaction so I started running after her. His eyebrows were up again, his arms folded and from what I could see from the hall, she was begging and bargaining. Finally, he gave in when she mentioned White. She jumped in rejoice and gave him a split second hug which I could tell he hadn't been expecting and then she ran back towards me, grabbed my hand and began pulling me.

"Let's go tell Bobo now," she said excitedly.

Bobo was thrilled that she had invited him and while they were talking, I called Noah.

"Hey, Noah. You free this evening? Jenna wanted to invite you to a concert—"

"No freaking way! She has tickets to the _Breaking Benjamin_ concert this evening? You're kidding! Please, don't joke with me about this." I moved the phone a few centimetres from my ears before I got deafer from his shouting. She hadn't told me who was playing and I shared his excitement now, though I'd spare his own hearing.

"That's who it is? She didn't tell me. But, yeah, that's probably the one."

"Dude, I have been trying to get tickets to that but I've been broke and my mom wouldn't lend me the money. How the hell did she get those?" She approached and put her hand out and I handed her the phone. She smiled like she owned the world.

"You love me, don't you?...I know you do...Yes, it's _Breaking Benjamin_; I'd rather die than miss their concert when I've got the chance to go...Let's just say you've got to know who are the right people to gamble with...No, I will not marry you," —she laughed— "Yeah, see you later. Here's Rex. You two can scream like girls with each other now." She handed back the phone and I jumped in the air, doing a fist pump.

"We are gonna have so much fun tonight," he told me.

"That we are. Even if Six is babysitting."

"Hey, even agro-nanny's gotta enjoy this one. They are only the awesomest rock band ever."

"Hey, talk to you later. I gotta go claw through my wardrobe."

"Me, too. Later, Rex."

"Later, Noah."

After I was off the phone, she was looking at me with a smug smile, arms folded.

"Come on. Say it. You love me, don't you?" she said.

"You're borderline awesome, Jenna."

"Heh, it'll do, for now. Meanwhile, I've got to go check out my clothes, too. I doubt I have anything and maybe we can go shopping if you want."

"I'll check back with you." She proceeded to walk off and then she stopped and turned around.

"Oh, by the way, Rex. They're front row tickets." She walked back off and I wanted to tackle her and collapse. After she was gone, I jumped in the air, doing two fist pumps and shouting 'oh, yeah' at the top of my lungs.

We were supposed to meet in the foyer for six thirty and I found Six there, usual green suit, hands in pockets.

"Oh, come on, Six. Where's your rock out gear?" I asked. He raised an eyebrow and said nothing. Noah trudged in just then, wearing all black, a graphic tee, jeans and a suit jacket. I was wearing a dark grey jacket with silver zippers on the forearms and my usual pants with a dark red tee with a nanite print all over it.

"Nice shirt," Noah said.

"Nice jacket."

"Nice everything, fellas," her voice called from the hall. We turned.

"Whoa," Noah and I chorused. Jenna was wearing black jeans and her usual boots, a plain black, short sleeved tee and a white waistcoat over it, a silver chain connecting the pieces at her shoulders and hanging across her chest. Black fingerless gloves were on her hands and I could tell that she was wearing eyeliner. Her hair was parted to the side. My jaw nearly hit the ground. It was the most clothes I'd ever seen her wear. Ever.

"Okay, you win," I admitted.

"Of course I do. See, that's what I meant when I said if I had a normal life I'd dress better."

"I stand corrected."

"Ready to go?" Six asked.

"Sure. Let's go for pizza first, though. Concert doesn't start till eight, so we won't be home before midnight."

"You have your communicators in case of trouble, right?"

"Yeah," she and I said.

"Pizza and a concert? Are you sure you won't marry me?" Noah asked while we waited for our pizzas.

"I'm sure. You're awesome and everything but I think your mom would get a heart attack if you brought me home. In any case, sorry, but I only date brunettes." Noah shot me a glance and she burst into laughter. "Six is more my type." We turned to watch Six who had one eyebrow up. She burst into another peal of laughter, slapping the table. "Oh, gee, you guys have the greatest reactions ever. It's so worthwhile saying those things. See, that's why you don't want to marry me."

"Point taken," Noah said. Our pizza came and we started eating.

"So, Six, what's your type?" she asked, face looking wicked and interested.

"Human," he answered flatly. She snickered and rolled her eyes.

"Duh. But anyway, I think I know your type. Tall, fair, red lips, black hair, boots, lab coat. Am I getting warm?"

"No way. Holiday?" Noah said.

"It's dangerous to talk while you eat," was his only response.

"It's not a no," I pointed out.

"It's not a yes," he retorted.

"Oh, come on, Six. Secret between friends?" she urged.

"I'm your chaperone."

"So, we're not friends? That's hurtful."

"It's nothing personal, Jen. Six is selective about his friends," I told her, going for my fourth slice.

"I've got a better idea. Why don't you tell us about that guy _you_ fell in love with in a day?" Six said, trying his hardest to divert attention from himself.

"No time. We've got to go. Need to get our places." We closed the boxes and took them into the car after she paid the bill. We polished it off and in no time, we were there, pushing our way past people to get to the front row.

When the band came out, it got really loud with all the fan-screaming and we just added to the noise. Six just stood there, expressionless as ever. We threw the 'I love you' symbol in the air and Jenna was head-banging so intensely that it was a wonder that she didn't fall over. At some point we were in a circle and we just had the greatest time ever. During the last song, when Jenna and I were catching our breaths, I looked over at her and she was watching me right back, smiling. I put a hand on her shoulder and came closer to her ear.

"I don't know how I can thank you for this," I said.

"Just consider it the beginning of our friendship," she replied. I drew back and her eyes were looking at me with an elated expression. She was coming closer, I could tell, then all of a sudden, her eyes darted to behind me and she smiled wider. "Oh, my gosh. Is Six's head moving?" I turned to distinctly see Six's head moving very slightly to the beat of the music.

"No way."

"That's _Breaking Benjamin_ for ya. Uniting the young and the agro." The band ended just then and thanked the crowd, and we shouted with the crowd, giving them the praise they deserved. I felt my voice going hoarse and I stopped shouting, only because I knew it would hurt like hell later. It was nearly one when we got back, having dropped Noah home and we were both dead beat, trying our hardest just to get our feet to move.

"Price of good time, huh," she said to me softly as we entered the foyer.

"Worth it, all the way," I replied. She gave me a sideways fist bump and then said goodnight to all of us, heading to her room. I fell onto my bed after managing to change and felt sleep taking me as soon as I was under the covers. I dreamt a lot that night but only one really stuck with me when I awakened: at the concert, Jenna actually kissed me and when I opened my eyes, Nina and I were standing before the remnant sunset light. Why my mind would conjure a thought like that, I didn't know, but it made me wonder if Jenna really had been trying to kiss me at the concert. I didn't seem to have made a move to stop her. So how did _I_ feel about her?


	9. Chapter 9

~o~

Sunday morning, bright and early at ten, Doc Holiday called me into her office for the usual check up. My dream had been on my mind all morning and seeing her would be a welcome distraction.

"Hey, Doc," I said, walking into her office.

"Hey, Rex. How was the concert?"

"It was awesome. My throat still feels really raw and my neck is killing me but I'm glad I went."

"That's good. Did Six enjoy himself?"

"I think he did. At some point, he was almost head-banging." She turned around in her chair and looked at me.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, no lie."

"Wow. I'm speechless. It's amazing how she got those tickets. I almost wish I had gone."

"She invited you?"

"Since Friday after we came back from the spa. But I told her to take Six as a chaperone instead since I already got my time off, courtesy her. She's like everyone's angel or something."

"Angel isn't exactly the right word, I think."

"Something the problem?"

"I'm not sure."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well..."

"You can tell me."

"Sure you want to know? I don't want you to feel jealous." She gave me a dry look.

"Try me."

"She...I...I think she tried to kiss me yesterday."

"Really? You're turning out to be a real chick magnet. First Circe, then Nina, now Jenna."

"I think you mean, first you, then the others."

"Come on, Rex. Be serious. What do you think about her?"

"I—I dunno. She's a lot of fun and we get along really well, not to mention she reminds me of Nina. But she's loud, obscene, more than a little crazy, reckless, tactless, kind of scary—"

"And you're in love with her," she cut me off. I took a breath.

"I don't know if I'm in love with her, but she's more than a little shocking. She's interesting and I enjoy being around her."

"I think we all do, Rex. She's something different. Like you but more extreme. She's a lot of fun and makes a lot of people laugh."

"Yeah, she's pretty amazing." She gave me a long look and giggled.

"Either you're already in love or on the way there."

"Seriously? In any case, where is she? I haven't heard her voice all morning, which is odd, seeing how loud she is."

"I don't know. I only caught a glance at her and she was pretty dressed up."

"Was she wearing more clothes than usual?"

"Yes, actually. Dress pants and the top from last night."

"Hm. Now I really wonder where she went."

"Ask Six. Maybe he knows. Okay, Doc." I turned and headed for the door.

"Wait just a minute, Rex. I know you're all excited to find her, but I did call you here for a reason."

"Oh. Right." I returned and she started her examination.

On my way back from the Doctor's office and to the cafeteria, Jenna was coming right towards the hall leading to our rooms.

"Oh, Jenna, where've you been?" I asked.

"Ooh, worried, were you? Jealous maybe?"

"I was just curious."

"Oh, okay. I was at church."

"Church?"

"Yeah. I'm born and baptised Catholic. Anyway, I've heard it's not a good idea to talk about religion so moving on."

"Oh, okay. What time did you leave?"

"Sixish."

"Sixish? How did you ever get out of bed? Isn't your neck hurting?"

"Oh, it's killing me but still not a good enough reason to miss church. Anyway, lemme go change and we'll go grab some breakfast, okay?"

"Uh, sure. I'll wait here."

"No need. You can go grab yourself some food and I'll meet you." She ran off and my eyes followed her until they no longer could. Was it possible that I could be in love with her? It felt a bit wrong since I also had feelings for Circe and Nina.

We spent the day together like always but she asked a lot of questions about Noah which led me to think that she liked him.

"What, do you like him or something?" I asked, flat out.

"He's pretty cool. Easy to hang out with, for sure."

"Uh, if you want I can set your guys up..."

"Oh, gosh, no. That would be really awkward and it wouldn't be a good idea to get involved with him. He should go after normal girls."

"He seems to like you a lot though. Why fight it?"

"For good reason. He's going to feel like an outsider because of my powers. That's why it's easier for us super-soldiers to stick together. We feel at home with each other."

"Yeah, but with you, it's not so obvious."

"It's more obvious than you think. When I get nervous or embarrassed it's usually a reflex to flash out at least until I calm down."

"You've got to learn to control them before they control you."

"I know. But I've been doing pretty good lately. Anyway, what's your type, Rex?"

"Trouble, it seems," I said, rubbing the back of my head reflexively. She chuckled.

"Good answer. Holiday doesn't fit the profile, though."

"She's a scientist. How is that _not_ trouble?"

"She's no Doctor Jekyll."

"What's _your_ type, since you're so interested?"

"Guys that it will never work out with."

"Why do you say that?"

"They're usually too important or too perfect and I'm just a spec on the radar, nothing too special."

"Oh, come on. Nothing special? Do I _have_ to remind you of our awesome teamwork or your mad gambling skills?"

"It works for a little while, and when we kiss it's like magic, but then reality hits and we can't be together. That's just how it's been." I gave her a long, interested look.

"How many have there been?"

"Too many. I should have stopped at zero and avoided the pain."

"Everyone deserves a chance at happiness."

"But not everyone finds it. And when they don't find it, all they'll do is regret all the pain they've felt." A long moment of silence passed, partially because I didn't know what to say. She stretched and returned to her original position. "How did the conversation get so heavy? Anyway, next topic. So you had fun last night? How're your vocal chords?"

"Raw but getting better, I think. How's your neck?"

"Ah, I'll be better by tomorrow. I know I shouldn't head-bang but it's a bad habit. Music does that to me."

"Gotta love music." Six walked in and came right over.

"Rex, I'm going to need to borrow Jenna. We're starting some new training," he said.

"Shouldn't we be working together, since we're partners?" I interjected.

"Well, first she has to train with me, then she'll train with you. We're more like a team than partners. Realistically, it's the three of us."

"Sorry, Rex. This happens a lot, doesn't it?" she said. She took off her dog tags and rested them on the table. "Keep these for me, will you? I won them a long time ago."

"Uh, sure." I picked them up and after she was out of the room, I proceeded to examine them. The name 'Kent 'Cody'' was engraved on them. "Sucks for him," I said to myself.


	10. Chapter 10

~o~

Over the next two weeks, Jenna and I spent most of our time in training and physicals and we barely had any time to hang out. When we did, we never got to spend any time alone; it was always the group of us. I needed to know just how much I liked her and I wasn't getting much time to explore that. Such it seemed to be with all the girls I liked: something always getting in the way. If I hadn't learnt that with Circe or Nina, I was getting it now. And we were in the same building! Anymore and I'd think she was avoiding me.

We were done for the afternoon and I was dead beat and lying on a couch that Jenna had pushed into the foyer. How it got there, I had no clue and maybe I didn't want to know. She was one serious gambler and sometimes, it was better not to know. Six and Holiday were around and I had been wondering.

"Hey, Six. What do you think are the chances of us finding Nina?" I asked.

"About as much as the chances of finding Holiday and Six making out in a broom closet," Jenna said, walking in. Doc looked flabbergasted and Six did his trademark eyebrow raise. Jenna burst into laughter, ending up on the floor but she seemed to be the only who found that funny. They rest of us were just...appalled at the suggestion. "Okay, okay, I apologise for that one. I really need a lid for my mouth. But seriously, can't you guys let the dead rest?"

"I've got to know, Jenna. I'll always wonder if I don't see her body." She stood again.

"And suppose she doesn't want her body to be found? Suppose that's why nobody found it?"

"That's not good enough for me."

"You're only going to get hurt like that, Rex. Stop looking for dead people."

"I'm sorry, Jenna, but I have to know."

"The only person you should be sorry for is yourself. I don't think you'll like the answer when you find it. People seldom ever do." She flashed out just then and I just threw a look at Holiday.

"Is it just me or does she seem touchy about the subject of Nina all of a sudden?" she asked.

"Maybe she knows something. You should ask her, Rex," Six said.

"Me? Not after that disagreement. She doesn't need to know that I won't give up. And if she did know something, I doubt she'd tell us, given her tone just now."

"Ask anyway, Rex. She's not an unreasonable girl. Besides, this is your mission mostly," Doc answered.

"Fine. Maybe later. Right now, I can't move."

"Just take a rest, kid. We'll find what we can," Six said, leaving the room, Doctor Holiday following. After they left, I closed my eyes, tired after the beating they'd just given me in training. I wasn't even aware when I had fallen asleep.

I stirred from sleep but just barely, feeling someone placing me on what felt like my bed. My eyes wouldn't open too wide because I was pretty much still asleep, but I could just make out Jenna about to walk about of my dark room.

"Jenna?" I asked softly, still in the sleepy stupor.

"Go back to sleep, Rex. Sweet dreams."

"Jenna, why have you been avoiding me lately?" I was just blurting things out, things I wasn't even sure of, but I couldn't stop myself. I was stuck somewhere between the lack of control in a dream and the fogginess of being just barely awake. She half-smiled.

"You noticed, huh? It's because I don't want you to figure out my secret."

"Secret? What secret?"

"You already know, Rex. You already know. Goodnight."

"Wait." She walked out of the room and I had no will or energy to follow. All I could feel was sleep washing over me again.

I woke up maybe an hour later, feeling more alert but still sleepy. I knew what had transpired wasn't a dream. I wanted some answers. I hadn't even tolerated the cryptic answers from Nina and she would be no different. I didn't like playing games like this. I ran to her room, but then it hit me that she was probably asleep. I heard the clanking of something metal and I took it to mean that she wasn't. I gave a knock and the door opened.

"Rex! What are you—"

"How come you're still up?"

"I couldn't sleep. Didn't I put you in bed an hour ago?"

"What secret were you talking about?"

"Secret? What—"

"Don't even try to lie to me, Jenna. I know that was real. I want some answers." She exhaled and closed her eyes for a few seconds and then she gave a look like she was giving up. "Look, it's confession time. I'll tell you the one secret I've been keeping from you if you'll tell me. That way we'll be even."

"Alright! I'll tell you. But you already know!" She grabbed me by the hand and we headed to my room and we stopped there. She waited for the door to close and then faced me. "You might want to sit down for this. It might be a shock. I didn't want to have to carry you back here if you collapsed. You're heavy."

"I'll go first, like I said."

I came closer until we were just inches away from each other. I looked her straight in the eyes and her expression became uncomfortable.

"Rex, no—"

"Jenna, I'm in love with you—"

"No," she said again, turning sideways, crossing her arms. Her reaction was rather hurtful.

"Jenna, what's wro—"

"This wasn't supposed to happen. I wasn't even supposed to stay this long. I—I should have left when I still had the chance."

"What are you talking about, Jenna? You're talking in riddles and I don't get them at all. This has to stop, Jenna. I need some solid answers." She turned back to face me and her expression looked like sad and vulnerable.

"That's what you said the first time we met, too."

I only knew too well when was the last time I said that to somebody. Her arms came very quickly around my neck and her lips were on mine before I knew it and I didn't fight back at all. She was here again, this girl that I'd told that I loved and now I really meant it. All I could do was kiss her. She released me and I looked into her eyes.

"Nina?" I asked. Her lips crashed down on mine again, cutting off any words I wanted to say and my will to do anything but kiss her back. I put my arms around her, trying to prolong the moment and happy just to have her here in my arms. She was kissing me urgently, like she needed to kiss me or else she would crumble. It was obvious that she had missed me and that she regretted having lied to me. Her mouth was speaking to me words without sound and I understood only too well.

Then the door slid open. We broke apart and upon looking at the door, there was a shocked Holiday and Six. Holiday looked like she was about to pass out. Six looked...disapproving. Jenna rested her head on my shoulder for a second but then flashed out, leaving me alone to handle the situation. I would have minded...if I wasn't still high from that kiss. I dropped my arms. What a time to get caught.

"What was _that_?" Holiday asked. "We just came to see if you were here because you weren't on the couch where we left you." It took me a second.

"It's her. She's back. It's her," I said.

"What? Who are you talking about?"

"Jenna is Nina. _ My_ Nina, from Avis Bay, Nina. The girl who kissed me, Nina."

"That explains a lot...especially _this_." I blushed and turned my eyes away from them. Suddenly, Jenna, or Nina, or whatever she wanted to be called flashed back in, arms folded, face just barely composed.

"Okay, I know this looks really bad but I can explain."

We ended up in Holiday's office and Six, Holiday and I sat on the bed of the CT scanner while we waited for her to spill. She paced a few times, then stopped, then started back pacing, then stopped.

"Not again," Six said. Holiday elbowed him lightly. Jenna exhaled.

"Nina, do you mind..." I began.

"Call me Jenna. Nina died six months ago after I left you on the beach."

"What do you mean by that?" She took another breath.

"This is going to be a long story. I hope you guys don't get restless easily."

She ran a hand through her hair and then managed to look at us at face level.

"Yes, I saw everything that was to happen at Avis Bay. The first time I touched you, it was kind of to make sure you were real and that I wasn't dreaming again or something. I knew it meant I was going to die. When I woke up and found you sleeping on the sand beside me, I knew I had to leave, no matter how much I wanted to stay with you. I walked to the edge of the Bay and then I hid in the water until you were gone."

"No way. You held your breath that long?"

"Not exactly. I knew I would run out of air, but coincidentally, that's also the reason why I'm still here."

"You tried to kill yourself and failed?" Six asked, eyebrows raised.

"Well, don't put it like that. It sounds pathetic. See, I thought that since I was already there hiding and I couldn't hide forever that it was my destiny to drown. I thought that _because_ I knew I was going to die that anything I did would be to facilitate that. Apparently, suicide doesn't count. I almost died. I heard you shout for me from the chopper with my last breath and then I died. But then, the next thing I know, I'm on the shore, alive."

"You lied to me all those times, when I asked if you were her and all those times we were talking about her. You never said a thing."

"Not exactly. When you asked if I was a mind reader and I said no, I was telling the truth. When I woke up, I found that I had the power to teleport but no longer to read minds or see memories. I get patches of the future now and again but no long visions anymore. And when you asked about that guy, I was talking about you Rex. All the things I said were about you. Anyway, when I woke up I knew I couldn't risk being Nina anymore so I became Jenna. It was what my brother called me for fun sometimes, just to get me angry, so I just kind of ran with it. I didn't really change who I was, I mean I can't become all of this in six months, but I just kind of changed my label. It worked pretty well. Certain people know we're the same person, others were the reason I changed it, like you guys.

"You have to understand that I didn't want to lie to you, but I just couldn't let this go. I had to see you again, if just once. I was going to disappear again soon after but something stopped me. I wanted to try to be there for people, for you, for the world. And I really did want to help change the world. But Nina was supposed to die. So I let her die in the water. The girl who woke up, I, am Jenna. It's just the rules that a person who sees the future must die."

"What about that comment about Holiday and Six?"

"Hey, it's possible. If only they'd admit they're head over heels for each other." Holiday was about to object but Jenna cut her off. "Oh, what, do you think I'm blind? I'm very perceptive, remember? I see things people hope I won't. Anyway, you can deny it for as long as you want. I should just tell you that life is short."

"Why didn't you come find me sooner? You knew where I'd be."

"Rex, I came, didn't I? I had been fighting the idea of coming to see you for those six months but I knew I had to hone my new powers and become different. You just didn't see all of me at the beach. I've always been this abrasive person with a huge tattoo and a rifle. I...knew you deserved better. Stable. I'm a nomad. There wasn't anything that I could give you."

"That's not an excuse, Nina."

"For the last time—"

"You'll always be Nina to me, because the Nina I knew was special to me."

"But you're in love with Jenna. I'd rather be her."

"I told both of you that I loved you, didn't I?" A moment of silence passed where we just stared at each other.

"O—kay, maybe you should continue this lover's quarrel outside. Six and I need to talk and assimilate what you just said," Holiday interrupted. For a brief moment, I had forgotten that they were there. I felt a bit embarrassed. I said a lot of things.

"Can we go to the roof?" she asked me.

"Sure."

"Later, guys. Goodnight." She looped her arm through mine and then in a split second, we were on the roof. I took a second to stabilise myself and she sat, her legs dangling over the side. I took a seat beside her, one knee up, the other leg contracted and flat and rested my arm on my knee. When I looked at her, her eyes were on me.

"I'm sorry, Rex. I'm really sorry. I didn't want to let you down," she said.

"I just don't understand why you've stayed away. I wondered where you were. I thought you were dead. I didn't want you to die. I wanted to know you better."

"I'm sorry, Rex. I can't explain it well but I just thought that that was the best option."

"All the stuff you said about not being able to be with the guy you loved..."

"I was talking about you then, too. Death kept us apart. You loved, Nina. Jenna certainly couldn't just suddenly come into your life."

"You did, didn't you?"

"I was trying to find a better purpose and trying to just see you again. I was thinking about just becoming an officer but then I realised that I probably wouldn't see you. I got weak and I came here."

"What do you mean there wasn't anything you could give me?"

"I'm a nomad, Rex. I'm not a normal girl. I'm kind of like the lone ranger and I've got my own issues. You deserved someone less...battered."

"I've got amnesia, for crying out loud, and I make machines come out of my body! Do you really think I would have minded if you were a little insecure?"

"You don't need someone to add to your problems."

"All I need is someone who loves me for who I am!" She gave a startled look and then calmed and gave a small smile.

"Well, I can certainly do that. I love you, Rex. It's the only thing I can really give you."

"That's all I'm asking for. Stop trying to make my decisions for me."

"Control freak. Sorry."

"Well...we'll get through this." She looked out to the darkened sky and seemed to contemplate something.

"I'm sorry I complicated your life and confused you. I'm sorry I've been so arrogant. I'm so sorry for everything, Rex, and I know it's hard to forgive me—"

"Would you shut up?" She seemed startled and when he saw that I was smiling, she smiled back.

"Sorr—"

"Eh!" I cut her off and put a finger on her lips. Her eyes warmed and I moved my hand to her cheek and she put her hands on my hand, pressing it to her face. "Stop apologising. I understand that you only did what you thought was right and I forgive you. Just stop trying to keep me in the dark, Nina."

"Jen—"

"Now that I know the truth, the name Jenna means nothing to me. It's just a mask. Everything about you is Nina. I want the real thing." She released my hand and I took it from her face.

"Oh, alright. For you, I'm Nina." I gave a smile and she scooted closer until her hip was touching the knee on the ground. "What do we do now, Rex? We have love in common, but it doesn't work out for everyone."

"Will you quit being so negative?"

"I'm not negative. I'm realistic."

"Then fall into the fantasy. Let go of reality. I'll _make_ you fall into the fantasy." She gave a small smile.

"Make me fall, Rex. Give it your best shot," she replied, using my own words.

She leaned over to me and put a hand on mine that was on the ground and her lips touched mine softly just before she kissed me. This kiss was softer than the one from before, gentle, but every bit as meaningful. It reminded me of the first time she kissed me. It started off as one long kiss but it became many short kisses and she tilted her head a few times. I never knew kissing a girl could be so exhilarating. Or maybe it was just kissing her that was so fantastic. And she kissed me like she knew what she was doing. She drew back and giggled.

"Man, where did you learn to kiss like that?" I said.

"Um, the movies? I've never actually ever kissed anyone but you."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. You're the first guy I've ever been this interested in. The first guy I've been in love with."

"Yeah, ditto, I think." She raised a brow.

"I'm the first guy you've been in love with?" I laughed.

"Oh, come on. You know what I mean."

"I love messing with people, you know that." She gave my hand a squeeze, the back of my hand against the palm of hers, fingers intertwined and didn't even notice when we'd started holding hands. "Does this mean I'm your girlfriend now?"

"Shoot, yeah! I have a girlfriend now. Score!" She slapped my arm with her free hand and gave a quiet laugh.

"You know, you have yet to kiss me."

"What are you talking about? We've kissed like a twenty times already now."

"No, _I've_ kissed _you_ like three times. _You_ have yet to kiss _me._"

"Alright. We can rectify this right now."

"Nah, you've got to wait for the moment to set in. You'll know when you want to kiss me." She looked out to the sky again and let go of my hand. "We should go to bed. It's pretty late and they're gonna wanna beat the hell out of us again tomorrow."

"You've got a point. Come on." She stood and offered me a hand which I took. As soon as I was standing, she looped her arm through mine and we were in front of her door in a flash. I took a second to steady myself. "Still gotta get used to that one."

"You will. Eventually." She came to stand in front of me and threw her arms around me and I hugged her tightly for a long moment. When she finally drew back, I brought my face down and gave her the kiss she wanted. After a few seconds, she pulled back. "You should go before we end up at this all night." She turned away for a second and muttered, "I know I'd like that." Her eyes came back to me and after one more short hug and a second-long kiss, I turned and started for my room. "Hey, Rex?"

"Yeah?" I said, half-turning and smiling because I couldn't stop.

"I love you. Don't forget it."

"I love you, too, Nina. Goodnight." I walked off with the biggest and stupidest grin on my face. Tomorrow would be a good day.

**Some girl, huh? I think I like her for Rex a lot. This story took a turn I wasn't intending for at the beginning but I like where it's going now. I hope you do, too. Why not tell me what you think?**


	11. Chapter 11

~o~

**Doctor Holiday's Point of View**

"What are we going to do about them?" I asked Six.

"That's _my_ question," was all he could respond. "They're partners. Suppose that turns messy."

"Well, they love each other, Six. It's not just some minor crush, or at least I think it's not. Even if they can't be together, I think they'll still look out for each other. I mean, look at how many times Rex has helped Circe, even if they're on different sides." He seemed to give it a thought.

"You might be right about that. Let's hope you are." I gave a smile, remembering how it looked to see them kissing like that.

"They're so cute together. I'd really hate for anything bad to happen between them."

"That's life. Things happen. Only time can tell."

"Time and her. She might be able to see their future."

"But if she sees her future again, it might mean she's going to die again. I don't think you can cheat death twice."

"I'm not sure she was really meant to die in the physical sense. She says she became Jenna and let Nina die in the water. Maybe it just meant that she was supposed to take up a new identity. We'll never know. Mind reading and future seeing isn't something we've worked out as an exact science yet due to lack of subjects. There's only a hint that they might have come from government research and experiments, but apart from that, no one knows how they came to be or how their gifts work."

"I guess all we can do is watch them and hope everything goes smoothly. For the sake of us all. Rex is the most revolutionary thing in the world right now. His relationship and what happens between them might very well affect the rest of the world if they change him."

"We'll have to watch them carefully but try not to add too much stress or else we might cause some problems. In the meanwhile, I just want to know how it affects both of them."

"Agreed. Get some sleep, Doc. Tomorrow's going to be a busy day." He started walking out of the room. "Goodnight, Doctor," he called over his shoulder.

"Goodnight, Six."

My mind shifted to what Nina had said. I already knew how I felt about Six but he was about as easy to decipher as Mayan hieroglyphics are to a child. I couldn't be sure if she had just been kidding or trying to get our goats. Nina was serious about very few and specific things and I was likely to believe that love was one of them. There was nothing I could do about it. All I could do was just wait and keep on working. I shut off the light at my desk and neatened my papers and walked out of the office. Tomorrow was going to be interesting.


	12. Chapter 12

~o~

First thing on my mind when I woke up: Nina. And naturally, that put a smile on my face. Bobo had been asleep for all of that, so when he woke up I had to tell him. I was dreading telling Noah. He had been interested in her since they met. It might seem like I had betrayed him. That was one fight I was not looking forward, too. Hopefully he would understand. Nina and I had a special kind of history and I hadn't started off wanting a romance with Jenna. It just happened. He couldn't fault me for that, right?

When I got out of the bathroom, I noticed that Bobo was already gone and that I'd probably have to go look for him. I would have gone straight to Nina's room, but I knew she wouldn't be there. No matter what, she was an early riser and was always about by seven thirty. It was admirable. I wasn't going to try it though. I headed to the foyer, going to the cafeteria, and Nina came from the hallway to the south of the foyer. I stopped and she came towards me.

"Morning, Rex," she said with a chipper smile.

"Oh, hey, Nina. How did you sleep?"

"I couldn't get an inch of sleep last night. I was too excited."

"Oh. Sorry."

"It's okay. I'm just happy." She leaned in and I met her half way for a small kiss. I heard shoes coming just then.

"Wow," Noah's voice said from a yard away. We both turned and Noah and Bobo were looking at us.

"Why do we always get caught?" she whined.

"Oh, hey, Noah. I've got some news," I said, trying to ease into it.

"If you've got some news? I gotta hear this one," he answered, smirking.

"Please don't be mad and hate Rex. It's not his fault and there's a really good explanation behind it," she said.

"Why would I be mad?"

"I thought you had a thing for me or something. Well, maybe I was wrong. Or maybe this is a 'bros before hoes' thing. Eh, I'll never know." She started backing away. "I'll catch up with you guys later, okay? Got something to do." She turned and ran into the hall leading to our rooms and Bobo had a peeved look when I turned back to look at them.

"You got some explaining to do, pal. Like when all this happened," Bobo said.

We grabbed some food and then took a seat, Bobo and Noah sitting on one side and looking rather interested.

"So spill," Noah rushed me.

"Yeah, come on, kid. Talk," Bobo added.

"How long has this been going on?"

"Oh, a few hours maybe," I answered.

"Hours?" they asked together.

"See, last night, I fell asleep on the couch in the foyer and when I opened my eyes, Nina was putting me in bed."

"Wait, Nina was?" Noah asked.

"Some chick," Bobo responded.

"Anyway, so I was more than half asleep and I somehow blurted out a question about why she'd been avoiding me lately."

"Avoiding you? I didn't even notice," Noah interrupted.

"Me either. It was very discreet," Bobo agreed.

"Guys, can I tell the story here?"

"Sorry. Go on," Noah said to me.

"Right, so she said that it's because she didn't want me to find out her secret and that I already knew and before I could ask anymore, I fell back asleep."

"Nice one, Detective," Bobo retorted. Noah and I gave him a hard look. "What? Okay, go on."

"So, I woke up like an hour later and ran to her room and I found her still awake and asked her about it. At first she tried to deny what happened but I told her that I knew it was real and that I'd tell her a secret if she told me."

"What secret did you have to tell?" Noah asked.

"Getting to that!"

"Oh, sorry."

"She dragged me to my room, saying something like she didn't want to carry me again if I passed out because I was heavy. I confessed that I was in love with her, since Doctor Holiday had suggested to me that I was after a long conversation a long time ago and I realised she was right. At first, she seemed to reject the idea completely but then she started saying something about how that wasn't supposed to happen and that she should have left sooner. I told her that I needed some solid answers and she said that I had told her that the first time we'd met, too. The last time I had said that, it was to Nina on the beach. It hit me. I had been right. Then, she kissed me."

"Whoa, so _she's_ really Nina?" Noah asked, looking utterly surprised.

"In the flesh. Minus the cute, orange sundress."

"Wow. Lucky guy."

"Yeah. She kissed me twice and then the second time, Six and Holiday walked in on us."

"Oh, crap."

"Yeah. She flashed out but then reappeared and then explained the whole thing to all of us. She was supposed to die but didn't and her powers changed, so she assumed a new name, interpreting what had happened as the death of Nina when her powers changed. Then Holiday and Six kicked us out so that they could talk and we moved to the roof so we could continue our conversation. We settled things, kissed a few times, blah, blah, blah, and long story short, she's my girlfriend now."

"No. Way. You lucky freak! Congratulations!" Noah said, offering me his fist to bump. I returned the gesture.

"So you're not mad?"

"Mad? I'm thrilled _for_ you! This is huge! I mean, I liked her but I realised that she's a little too much for me to be more than friends with. But, you two? Man, that stuff only happens in the movies. I'm glad for you, man. Good luck."

"Good luck is right. Chicks are crazy, don't say I didn't warn you," Bobo commented.

"Oh, come on, Bobo. At least give the guy some support," Noah said.

"Alright. Good luck, kid."

"Thank, guys," I responded.

"He's right through. Girls are crazy," Nina said from a distance behind me. She came to join us, sitting next to me and giving me a playful nudge. She gave me smile and then turned to them.

"Be careful with Rex. He's a crier," Bobo said.

"Am not!" I protested.

"Don't worry. I've got his back," she replied coolly. She threw me a wink and I grinned back at them, raising my eyebrows twice in a gloating kind of gesture.

"So, Nina, what was it like, being a mind reader?" Noah asked.

"Interesting, disturbing, insightful...creepy...hilarious, entertaining. Just about every adjective you can use to describe thoughts, is what you could call it. The thoughts some people have are just disgusting. Some, like Rex's, are hilarious a lot of the time. Especially when he's reminding himself about how hot he is." She gave a laugh at the end. "When I met him at the beach, it was one of his first thoughts. I had to try not to laugh."

"You _are_ one vain _chico_, Rex," Noah agreed.

"So, what's on the agenda for today? Cards?" she asked.

"Training," Six said from a distance behind us. Nina stood first and half turned around to look at him, but then turned back to Bobo and Noah.

"You guys want to watch us get our asses kicked or vice versa?" she asked them.

"Nothing better to do, so sure," Bobo answered.

We walked into the foyer and met Captain Callan. Just as I was about to give a greeting, the building shook as something impacted and Van Kleiss' monster blimp appeared in a whole in the wall. Circe, Biowulf, Breech, Skalamander and Van Kleiss came off and into the building.

"Ah, Rex. How convenient," Van Kleiss said. Something clicked loudly into place and when I turned, Nina had already assembled her rifle. I hadn't even seen when she'd gone for it. Noah was gone, too. She'd probably taken him to safety.

"It's not polite to break into other people's good buildings, Van Kleiss," she retorted. He shifted his attention to her.

"And who are you?"

"Don't recognise me? You must be getting old, Van Kleiss. Maybe you should retire."

"You seem to know me but I don't think I've had the pleasure."

"All you need to know right now is that I'm going to shoot you and I've run out of blanks. Later it might come to you, if you see my back before I shoot you."

"Nina?" Circe burst in, taking a few steps from where she was.

"You look like you're about to have a heart attack, Circe. Did you think I was dead?"

"Nina? Then you must be Kent's little sister. Come for revenge, have you, and joined with Providence?" Van Kleiss said, cracking his evil smile wider.

"Nothing as petty as that. I've just come to do the right thing. But you wouldn't know anything about that, would you?" She took a first shot and everyone but Van Kleiss charged.

I formed my Smack Hands and batted Skalamander away before he could reach her. Six took Biowulf and Bobo started dealing with Breach. Circe just stood back, still looking surprised. Van Kleiss started approaching Nina but I jumped in front of her.

"Rex, what the hell are you doing?" she asked.

"You take Circe. I'll take Van Kleiss."

"Good idea. Cover me."

"Oh, come now, Rex. We have no reason to fight," Van Kleiss said, once she'd run towards Circe.

"You're evil, Van Kleiss. That's reason enough." I charged at him, but my eyes shifted to follow Nina to see if she was okay and I ended up in a wall. She was right in front of Circe now, having gotten past Callan, Holiday and Skalamander. She was okay, but I wasn't. I got back up.

"Keep your eyes off of me, Rex. You've got to have some confidence that I can fend for myself," Nina said from my communicator. She was right. How she'd seen that, I had no clue but we had already learnt that she was odd and amazing.

"Right, I'll keep that in mind. Just please don't get killed."

"_Te quiero, mi amor_. See you after this is over."

"Right back at you. Later." Van Kleiss walked towards me and I used the BFS to force him back. No way was I letting him pin me on a wall.

I didn't have much time to check up on her or anyone else that was fighting; my hands were quite full with Van Kleiss. Every attack I made, he was ready with a counter and it was getting rather close. We were both taking a beating, but it was a matter of whose beating was worse. I put three consecutive blows on Van Kleiss and he stumbled back, looking like he was accepting the fact that he was getting beaten.

"Time to retreat, lads. Don't think this is over, Rex," he declared. He started backing away and his minions also began heading for the monster blimp. Everyone except Circe. Nina was pinning her to the ground, her arm in Circe's mouth and both her hands pinned in one of Nina's while she sat on her. Biowulf was heading straight for them and Nina was aware.

"Someone better freaking cover me or else she's going to get away!" she shouted. Holiday started shooting continuously and eventually, Biowulf just retreated. The monster blimp started moving and Circe began struggling even more. "Would someone get me a friggin' tranquiliser?" Nina yelled. Callan came to her rescue and in seconds, the mass under her went limp. I wanted to stop them from being so rough but I couldn't work up the courage. Nina got up, a very visible bite mark on her arm. Two officers came and took Circe away and Noah came running from the hall going to our bedrooms.

"Nina, are you okay?" I asked, coming to stand closer to her. She took a few breaths but I could still see how utterly pissed she was. The cursing was coming soon. I hoped I wouldn't be around for it. When she was angry, she cursed. Violently. And loudly.

"Did I mention I hate traitors?" she said, voice trying to be calm.

"Your arm," I said, looking at it closely. The bright red lines meant blood.

"Well, I didn't have a gag and it was either that or have her blow off my fu— my freaking head. Circe and I didn't part too calmly last time and I'm not going to say I'm over it. I really wanna rip her friggin' head off!" She took a few more breaths.

"Nina, calm down. You can't get so angry about this."

"Can't I, Rex? It wasn't nice losing her or my brother. I think I'm entitled to be angry, especially if Circe knew what she was doing was wrong and didn't agree with it." She took one big breath and ran a hand through her hair. "Okay, Rex. You're right. Don't worry, I won't kill her. We just need to talk. I'm going to my room to calm down. Nobody disturb me or you know what's likely to happen. I'll come back in a little while and apologise for being a bitch."

I allowed her to run off, desperately wanting to go and help her and talk to her, still unfortunate enough to hear one loud swear as she headed down the hall that echoed. I flinched.

"Yeah, good luck with that," Noah said to me.

"I just can't understand why she's being so ferocious about this," I said.

"Circe was her best friend, Rex. The only people she had in her life were her brother and her best friend and both of them ran off with Van Kleiss. She feels betrayed by that and seeing Circe must have brought back all that anger," Doc Holiday said, coming over. "Although, that was some pin she did. That was kinda scary."

"I'm almost sorry I missed that," Noah said. I shot him a look and he looked contrite. "Sorry."

"Maybe you should go talk to her," Bobo suggested.

"Do you want me to be sworn at? That's what she does when she gets angry," I answered. "She just needs some times to calm herself. Then I'll go talk to her." Now I knew what she meant when she implied that she unstable. That was one temper I didn't want to flare.

I waited an hour, chatting with Noah and Bobo and trying not to be so distressed by just how riled up Nina had gotten.

"Hello? Earth to Rex. Man, you're really distracted." Noah waved a hand in front of my face and I pulled myself from thought, not even sure how I'd gotten there in the first place.

"Oh, sorry. I'm just distracted. I think I should go see Nina."

"Will she be less violent now? I ain't never seen a girl hog hold another girl like that. That was brutal," Bobo pitched it.

"Well, I hope she will be. I'll catch you guys later." I got up and headed to her room, wishing and hoping that she was a lot calmer. I didn't like it when Nina was angry and luckily I hadn't seen her get angry more than three times. Now that I loved her, it shredded my heart to know that she was unhappy.

I knocked before I entered her room and I heard her voice softly say to come in. When the door opened, she was pacing nervously, an anxious look on her face. She ran her hands through her hair about four times, then she stopped and shifted her attention from the floor to me.

"Er, hi. I wanted to see if you were feeling better," I said.

"I'm really sorry about the explosion earlier. I shouldn't have let my emotions get the best of me, especially in this kind of work. I just got so mad when I saw them, for both Kent and what they did to me. But it wasn't about revenge...I think. Oh, God, have mercy, I don't know." I approached her and took her wrists in my hands.

"Hey, calm down. It's okay. You're allowed emotions; you're only human. You'll learn to deal with it eventually. You've got to find what you're feeling to deal with it, though. I'll be right here to help you if you need it." Her arms came around me in a flash and I hugged her tightly. She needed to know that I was there for her, that I was willing to be her support system. I understood better than most that despite that bravado she showed, she was really fragile beneath it. I knew it only too well. Her grip loosened and her face started coming closer to mine but just as our lips were to touch, she stopped and rested her head on my shoulder instead. "What's wrong?" Her head came up so she could look at me.

"It's nothing. I've got to go see Circe. How long will she be out for?"

"It depends. Probably a few more hours."

"We'll go then." The look in her eyes was powerful and like another time before, it was almost like I could hear her voice in my head saying, 'Rex, kiss me'.

I obeyed. I let my lips touch hers softly at first and then she parted hers with ease, almost begging for it and I gave her what she wanted. My arms tightened around her and the soft kiss began to lose its softness, becoming more and more ravenous. I could feel her tongue tracing my lower lip and it felt so amazing. I wasn't sure what she meant by it but before long, I felt her tracing near the inside of my lower lip. I anticipated that at any second she would take the kiss further, but instead she slowly pulled away, touching her lips to mine if only to preserve the sensation of the contact without the heady sensation of the kiss.

"God, save me, but you're a drug," she said to me softly, voice thick with something that made my stomach clench tightly.

"_Igualmente_. You're no less addictive." Her fingers brushed the back of my neck temptingly but then, she let go. "We should get back to Noah and Bobo."

"Yeah. Being alone with you is dangerous. Come on." She turned and walked off into the hallway but when I caught up, she placed her hand in mine and I took it as we walked back into the cafeteria.

**Quite a temper, right? Let's see how this goes.**


	13. Chapter 13

~o~

"Well isn't that cute," Bobo commented as we approached the table.

"Shut up," I said, rolling my eyes as we sat, hands parting.

"I take it you're okay now?" Noah asked her.

"I take it you didn't get swore at, Chief?" Bobo added.

"No, he didn't get swore at. And yes, I've calmed down. Sorry about tripping off earlier. Me and Circe have some unresolved issues. Unresolved on my side, at least. I really hate traitors. It was really hard when my brother" —she paused to glance away and then glanced back just as fast— "tried to come back," she answered.

"Your brother? He tried to come back?" I asked, shocked.

"Story time. Listen close because this is about as detailed as my background information goes. By the way, I have a present for you," her attention shifted to me for the last part. She dug in her pocket and pulled out a small cardboard jewellery box. "And no, idiots, it's not a ring." Bobo, Noah and I glanced at each other and realised that we had been all thinking the same thing.

"And you're not a mind reader anymore?" I questioned.

"Heh, that was an obvious one. Open it."

Curiosity won and when I pried the lid off, a silicon chip was staring me in the face.

"What—"

"It's a memory card. More specifically, the one from your PDA journal from Hong Kong." I was baffled.

"How did you get this?" I asked, eyes coming back to her.

"This is going to make me sound like _such_ a stalker, but I kind of followed you to Hong Kong."

"That does sound stalker-ish," Noah said.

"Well, you see, I saw him going there and this was before I had that vision of me and you on the beach and I did want to see you in person, so I went. The flight was long but in the end, it was worth it. While you were doing all the back breaking work, I was enjoying myself, stealing a glance at you in person and in visions as I went. When I saw you chop the PDA in half, I literally gasped. I thought, just maybe, you might regret that someday so I snuck in after you'd left and spirited it away. I'm not pressuring you to use it, but I want you to have the option if you feel like it."

"You seem to have a lot of visions about me," I commented.

"I think it's because I wanted to see them. After the first few times, I got interested. Nothing like a good comedy-slash-action, right? Like that EVO bunny. I fell off a chair laughing at that one. People thought I was nuts."

"Bad memories."

"Still, after a while, that interest became an attachment and next thing you know, bam, I realise I'm in love with you." She raked a hand through the side of my hair and half-smiled at me. I smiled back.

"I'm flattered."

"You're awesome. I understand why Circe's so hung up on you. Part of me is going to have fun telling her about this." She gestured and me and her. "Part of me feels bad for her. I understand her position but she's just too damn stubborn." She exhaled and made a stopping gesture with her hands. "Not the point. I was telling you about my brother. You guys really need to stop me sometimes. I talk _way_ too much."

"It's interesting."

"Sure, if you say so. Anyway, so, since I was a baby, I lived in an orphanage a few miles off from Florida. I met Kent when I was like three, when I got in a fight over some toy with another kid. He came and stopped the fight. After that, he checked up on me a lot. It was nice. Soon, I came to see him as my big brother and we became inseparable. When he turned eighteen, he had to leave and he took me with him. We travelled around a lot and he had a lot of odd jobs so we moved a lot. I think maybe he was a thief or something, I don't know." She chuckled, eyes looking lost in memory. "We stayed in a lot of motels and when we couldn't find a place, we would just wait till people were asleep and then climb up on their roofs so we could just lie there and look at the stars and eventually fall asleep. All we had was a truck, some scrapings and our clothes. That orange sundress, he bought it for me one day as a birthday present.

"And then, when I was ten, he was twenty, he wanted us to have something that bound us, since we didn't have blood in common. His idea was matching tattoos. If you look carefully by one of the eagle's wings, his name is there. My name was on his, too. When the event happened, he was affected but kind of like Circe and you, Rex. His gained the power of telekinesis. At that time, we had just begun to try to settle into a stable home in the town Circe is from and she and I became friends. I always thought his powers meant we were closer since I already had my mind powers since I was seven. How wrong I was. When I turned eleven, Van Kleiss found him. He offered him a chance for something revolutionary and he jumped at it. Of course we could see how unethical a man like Van Kleiss could be and the evils of what he planned to do but Kent wanted something stable. I refused to go with him. I rejected the idea of doing anything evil. He left me on my birthday and I went back to being a nomad after that. I came to hate my birthday for a few years after that.

"On the day of my thirteenth birthday, I woke up and found him there beside me, telling me how sorry he was for leaving me and that he planned to come back and leave Van Kleiss. He couldn't take it anymore. I saw it just as it happened. Van Kleiss drained him of his nanites and let him die. He wasn't tolerating anyone backing out. Breech dropped his statue off in a park somewhere; Van Kleiss was too disgusted to keep him. He had left me his money when I'd seen him and his things. So I paid someone to dig a grave and I rested him there. I stopped hating my birthday, but I still don't celebrate it much anymore. That same year Circe first met Van Kleiss and started telling me about him and what he'd offered her. I'd tried to convince her otherwise, but omitted the fact that he killed my brother. I couldn't even think about it.

"Soon, she told me she was leaving to go where she was accepted, with the Pack. I told her I'd never speak to her again if she went with them. She said she thought best friends were forever and if I was going to be like that then she never wanted to see me again. She went with them, I watched her leave. I watched the last stable thing I knew disappear. After that, I got serious about watching out for myself. I picked up a few skills, practised gambling and before long, I was good enough to get a living off of just that, never mind the grimy company I would gamble with. I learned how to fight, how to shoot and at the same time, I realised that every day, I had to make it worth living, even if I thought life didn't give me anything to enjoy.

"The rest is history. Nothing important, really. Gambling, EVO fighting, moving around. I tried to stay in certain cities for weeks at a time, cities where people knew me and where the gambling was good. Needless to say, you hang out with the wrong crowd, you pick up their bad habits, cursing for one. And then, one faithful day when I was fifteen, I got a vision of myself of a beach and Rex was telling me that he loved me. I knew Rex from previous and numerous visions that I'd been getting since I was ten, only from the time Providence found you. I was excited, but at the same time I knew it meant I was going to die. The one and only person that I ever met with my abilities warned me about seeing my own future. I got scared. I was just stooping by the water at Avis Bay, contemplating the end of my life when Rex showed up. He hadn't even noticed me at first. Then the EVO attacked and I helped him out and he noticed me. It was when I saw him that I knew I wasn't afraid to die anymore. I would go happy. And well, we've all come to the rest of that story before so, yeah."

It was silent for a long moment, none of us moving or speaking, none of us really knowing what to say. She looked up from the table and gave us all a smile, like though she was sad, she didn't want to let it show.

"Don't tell me you fellas are about to cry or something," she said, going back to her usual self.

"Wow. That was just an intense story. I'm really sorry about what happened," Noah said. She shrugged.

"It's nothing."

"It's not nothing. It was hard. Admit it," I scolded her.

"Alright, it was hard, but I'm glad all of that happened. Sure, all I have now that I had from the beginning is my made-up last name, but all of that has made me who I am. Some parts of that I'm not proud of, but I accept that, for now, I'm supposed to be this way. Nothing like the open road to teach you that."

"So what's your last name?" Bobo asked. She laughed.

"That's all you got out of that whole story?"

"No. I'm just curious." She took her driver's license from her pocket and put it on the table, tapping a finger above the spot where her last name is."

"How do you pronounce that exactly?" Noah asked.

"It's pronounced 'ih-_vor_-ee' even though it's spelt I-V-O-R-I," she explained.

"It's a nice name. Has a nice ring to it. Nina Ivori," I said, trying it out.

"The whole infamous one-name thing seems a bit cooler to me though but I still like it," she confessed.

"Apart from that, I think you're a nut-job. Admirable, but a nut-job nonetheless. And psychotic, too. I ain't never seen a girl flip out like you did earlier," Bobo stated. She laughed.

"Granted, I'll give you that."

"What am I going to do with you? Will I ever learn to deal with your temper?" I joked. She gave a smug smile.

"Oh, you can't complain. All I have to do is get near you and you shut up right away," she retorted.

"What?" I started to protest.

In a super-quick movement, her face was half a centimetre away from mine, our lips almost touching, her eyes half-lidded like mine had become and staring deep into mine. Her chest was barely touching mine. I felt my mind going foggy again, lost in her aura. She stayed like that for what felt like forever in five seconds and then withdrew.

"I rest my case," she said, simply. She looked at Noah. "Be careful. Girls are manipulative." I tried not to look embarrassed. She knew she had a power over me. Maybe I would regret that. At the moment, I couldn't. We were silent for about two seconds when she spoke again. "Ooh, could you guys wait here? I need to go see Doctor Holiday and ask her something. I'll be right back." She got up and ran off without waiting for us to respond.

"She can't sit put for too long, can she?" Noah questioned. I shrugged.

"Not that I can tell. She's usually all over the place like a gremlin on caffeine." He snickered.

"Good thing she's _your_ girlfriend."

"Hey, I love her. She's interesting and sweet. Although she'd probably say something cynical like 'interesting is only temporary'."

"It is," she said, coming back to join us very suddenly.

"Did you just flash back?"

"Didn't want to walk. And interesting _is_ only temporary. But, say what, sweet while it lasts right?" I frowned and nudged me. "Oh come on. Just let it go."

Noah's phone rang and we listened in while he talked for less than a minute.

"That was my mom. I've got to go," he declared.

"Oh, alright. I'll flash you to the door if you want," she offered.

"No thanks. I don't like that dizzy feeling after."

"It goes away," she said shrugging.

"I'm still fine."

"I'll walk ya out. Been sitting too long," Bobo said.

"Later, Rex. Bye, Nina."

"Yeah, later, man," I called. Nina waved and they walked out.

Then she turned to face me.

"Circe's awake." I was silent for a few seconds but then voiced my worry.

"Are you sure you're okay enough to go see her?"

"As long as she doesn't kiss you, I'll be fine." She stood and started to walk out, leaving me to follow her.


	14. Chapter 14

~o~

The sound of plastic on plastic moving alerted Circe, who was sitting in a corner of her cell. She looked up to see Nina looking through the scope straight at her. I was a bit behind, in the doorway.

"You even try to hit me with those vibrations and I'll empty this clip in you," she declared. Even though she'd said that, in my mind, I knew that I'd never let her do it. Circe stood and came to stand by the reinforced bars.

"Why don't you just shoot me? I'll never tell you anything about Van Kleiss!" she shouted.

"Van Kleiss? I couldn't care less about Van Kleiss. Well, maybe not really, but still. I'm here to see you."

"And why in the world would you do that? I think you made it pretty clear that you hate me." She lowered the gun and snickered humourlessly.

"I don't hate you. I'm just wicked angry at you. I wish we could still be friends, sorta."

"Last I remember, you were the one who told me _you'd_ never talk to me again if I went with them."

"I'm human, mostly." She added the 'mostly' in a lower tone. "I say things I don't mean when I'm angry. Ask him." She raised a thumb in my direction. "I say a lot of colourful things when I get mad."

"Are you trying to tell me that you didn't mean it?"

"That's what I said, Circe. Keep up."

"And you expect me to believe that we can be friends after all this time? Do you really think that's possible given what has happened?"

"Well, realistically, no. But I'd still like it. I should just leave. You're right." She turned to leave.

"Nina, wait." She turned back. Circe's expression had softened. "I've been missing you. We were so close and I miss that. Why can't we be friends? I mean, Rex and I are friends and we're on opposite sides. Well, we're probably a little more—"

"Yeah, after I tell you what I'm about to tell you, you're going to agree with me that we can't be friends."

Circe got suspicious. Her face said it all. Her eyes narrowed a little and she looked untrusting. But she didn't say anything. It seemed that she was waiting for Nina to go on.

"Circe, Rex and I are together." A look of surprise flashed onto her face and it was quickly replaced by hurt, betrayal and displeasure mixed together in a mix and directed at me that made me not want to look at her. I had always wanted to help Circe and I'd been attracted to her from the moment we'd met in Cabo Luna. She looked hurt and it was our fault. I knew I shouldn't have been feeling so guilty, but I couldn't help it.

"Since when? How long have you two known each other?" she asked, attention back on Nina.

"Um, well, I've kind of known about him for like six years. But we've only actually been acquainted for a few months now. As for the together thing, since yesterday. I'm sorry, Circe. I knew how you felt about him but you know we've always had the same taste in everything. I couldn't stop it. I'm sorry." Her eyes came back to me.

"Rex?"

"She's telling the truth, Circe. I really liked you but Nina and I are different. It's a lot easier for me to be with her, too. I wanted us to work, Circe, but it's been so hard," I confessed.

"So that's how it is. You want it easy. Maybe we could never have been together then, Rex. I don't know if I could have given you 'easy'." She turned back her glance to Nina. "I can't be mad, Nina. This is kind of my fault. I _was_ kind of holding him off."

"Don't talk like you're sorry for yourself, Circe. We may not be best friends anymore, but I will still slap you like I used to. If you're angry about it, just tell me. If you're cool, then say so. And if you want to kill me, I'll just have to live with that."

Circe looked surprised by her reaction but then burst into laughter.

"It kind of sounds like we're still friends," she stated. Nina ran a hand through her hair and exhaled.

"Yeah, it does. Can we come to an impasse? I'm sorry I nearly shot you three times—"

"Four times."

"Fine. I'm sorry I nearly shot you four times and sat on you and stuck my arm in your mouth. If it makes you feel any better, it hurt like a mother." Circe laughed and Nina flashed into the cell and hugged her. It was sweet...and weird. I really was never going to get girls. "I promise that if you don't try to kill me the next time we meet, I'll avoid fighting you," she said once they'd stepped back.

"But if Van Kleiss orders it—"

"Van Kleiss could go fu—" She cleared her throat, cutting off before she finished her sentence that was clearly profane. "Van Kleiss does not rule your life. You do. And if you really have no choice, we can fake it."

"I promise I won't bite you again. Since we can't really be friends, can we come to an impasse?"

"Heck yeah! I'd love that. Um, I'll work on trying to get Provi to ease up on you. Or...you could actually join us—"

"Nina, if they didn't have a control collar on me, I'd get you for that one. You know that the Pack means something important to me."

"And Providence could mean so much more to you because Rex and I are here! We could be your family. You could have what we had before and so much more! Come on, Circe."

"I'm sorry, Nina. I can't try to shift my life again. And I don't think I can be around you and Rex if I'm going to have to watch from the sidelines." Nina took a breath.

"I don't agree with that but I suppose I understand. Well, I'll come back later. See ya, Cirs."

"Later, Nina. And, I'm really okay with you and Rex."

"You better be," Nina responded, grinning playfully. Circe laughed and Nina walked away, grabbing my hand. I was baffled. Did that really happen?

She didn't let go of my hand as we walked, rather she shifted it so that the hold was more comfortable and intimate. It kind of made it less intimidating that she had a sniper rifle in her other hand.

"Nina, what just happened in there?" I asked. Was it really that easy all along for them? She shrugged.

"I don't know. I never knew that our reconciliation was just one conversation away. I mean, it was always easy to bend Circe's will when we were friends and vice versa. I didn't know I still held that power. I really missed her, Rex. I'm just glad she was so willing to make things better."

"I'm just shocked that happened. That kind of stuff only happens in the movies. And not the good ones." She laughed.

"Like _Care Bears_, right?"

"Yeah. Ugh." I shuddered. She squeezed my hand and despite the ability to just flash us back in, she seemed to want to walk. We didn't talk much as we walked through the Petting Zoo from the Hole and back into the building but I kind of felt like we didn't have to. I felt like we had an exchange going just by holding hands. Who knew love could feel this nice?

Just as we were walking through the foyer, White appeared on the screen and we stopped and faced him.

"I heard Circe was captured. Did you try to interrogate her?" he asked.

"No," Nina said nonchalantly.

"Then what was that visit about?"

"Holiday must have told you. It was a personal visit." I noticed his eyes moving and focusing for a second on our linked hands. She must have noticed it, too, however, instead of letting my hand go, she gave it a tight squeeze.

"Something else you want to tell me, Rex, Nina?"

"Not particularly." I shot her a look.

"Nina," I said, tone warning. I was known for occasionally getting on his nerves, but I didn't want her in the same kind of trouble.

"It's none of his business," she whispered back to me.

"If you want things to be like that, let me just warn you. Rex is Providence's master tool. If you make him unable to perform his job or stir any trouble for him mentally or physically—"

"Physically? It's not like I'm fu—" she began to protest, cutting off another profane sentence that made his eyes narrow.

"Don't think you're taking that tone or attitude with me!"

"You're the one being disgustingly irritating. Humans can't be forced to act like tools all the time. Whatever is going on between us is our business. However Rex handles anything between us is his. You can't _begin_ to cast a judgement."

"Don't think just because you work here means you can do as you please."

"I'm entitled to a heart and a mind and an opinion. You can't control me completely, White. I've got things that I must do. I agreed to accept and carry out your orders. Let me do what I have to outside of that, or, so help me, God, you are going to regret stressing me out.

"Watch it, Nina. You aren't at liberty to go off on a tangent—"

"Will you just listen to me for two flicking minutes? I can be of help to Providence and the wider world. I agreed to do as you ordered and fight for a safer world. But I have needs. I need to go out during the week so that I don't get stressed out and start lashing out at everything and everyone. And I need to be with Rex so that my heart isn't blocked from seeing what I'm fighting for and why. I can't be away from him or else I won't be alright. Can you be human just this once and understand that? I am approaching you as a girl, not as a soldier."

White seemed to give her a long, hard stare but she never flinched away from his gaze. I didn't know why I had been so silent, why I hadn't said anything or why I was letting this argument go on between them. I felt...cowardly in the silence. He took a breath and closed his eyes for a long second.

"If anything becomes the matter, anything that could affect either his ability to perform or your teamwork, you are to seek assistance from Doctor Holiday or Agent Six to resolve the matter. I will not tolerate petty issues hampering our work." She cracked a smile.

"Thanks, White. See you next argument." The screen went black and she faced me, the smile turning to a frown while I gazed sternly at the floor. "What's eating you?"

"I should have said something. I should have backed you up. I shouldn't have made you handle that by yourself—" Any other words I was about to say were stopped and distorted when her fingers came to pinch my lips together. Her movements were so fast sometimes that they surprised me. She laughed quietly and her fingers moved from my face slowly.

"It wasn't necessary that you get involved in the argument, Rex. I can handle myself, you know. White better understand that he can't quarrel with me and win. You can't either." I gave her a half smile in response to the cute one she was wearing.

"Well, I already know that. One kiss and you can just about get me to shut up." Her lips came up and touched mine, her eyes open and looking into mine. There was something captivating about it that made me forget where I was.

"Like this?" she whispered, her lips brushing mine as she spoke.

"Uh-huh." I put my hand underneath her chin and tilted my head a little, my eyes beginning to close to prepare for the kiss I wanted to give. Her lips moulded against mine and it was about to become a kiss when a voice echoing from the hall forced our faces to part. She rested her head on my shoulder like she had times before and Doctor Holiday and Six appeared. I just stood there with her, holding her hand, my hand at the side of her neck now, bodies touching at certain spots and her head cradled perfectly on my neck. They were silent at first when they stopped at the doorway of the hall, just looking on and my focus was just on Nina, only my peripheral vision paying them any mind at all. Then Doctor Holiday spoke.

"White has given you permission to attend this party," she said, holding invitations. Nina's head turned, still resting on my shoulder.

"Those envelopes...it's from my friend, Zane," she said, recognising the intricate pattern on it. "And he doesn't have parties. He has balls. And since you have two envelopes, that must mean that it's the four of us going."

"Right you are, Nina. Right you are," Doctor confirmed.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15? This was this long? Heh, I had no idea. Well, if you're still reading, I thank you a lot. Hope you're liking it thus far.**

~o~

My new suit fit really well and I liked it a whole lot better than I had Six's green ones. I admired it as Six, Holiday and I waited in the foyer for Nina. It was traditional black with a white shirt but the cut fit me a lot better since it had been tailored. Nina had managed to take me to a boutique soon after we'd been told about it and the guy there grabbed a suit off of a rack in the back the minute he saw me and pushed me into a changing room. Six and Holiday had also been invited along to get some threads for the ball, too, but had insisted that they already had something to wear. The guy adjusted it a little and after waiting for about an hour, he returned with it and before I could object, Nina paid for it.

"You know, Nina, it looks a little bad when you pay for everything," I told her. "How much did it cost, anyway?"

"Are you mental? If I told you that, you'd probably want to pass out. It's a good suit though, worth it. And I have a lot more money than you think and nothing to do with it." She gave a laugh and I felt deeply embarrassed. It must have been expensive. However, there were two white bags on the counter instead of one.

"You win all of that gambling?"

"Like I said, it's all about knowing who are the right people to gamble with. I get discounts here, too, because Zane and this guy go way back."

"And it's still expensive?"

"When you get back home, check the label. It's brand name and the material is superb. Worth it though."

"What did you buy? Can I see?" I headed for the bag and she slapped my hand away when I tried to reach for it and I stopped.

"No, you may not. You'll see me in it soon. It's grey."

"Is it a dress?" I asked, raising my eyebrows twice.

"It's not like this will be the first time seeing me in a dress."

"Speaking of dresses, do you still have the orange one?"

"Of course I do. I just don't wear it a lot because it makes me look so much younger because it has a baby doll style. Showing my tattoo and dressing like this makes me look more intimidating so people don't harass me too much. It's sad that my life has been boiled down to this though, trying to discourage trouble."

"Maybe if you didn't put yourself in the trouble areas you wouldn't have to." She laughed.

"You're right but still. I've got to make my money somehow. Those are the people to gamble with. In any case, these clothes are easy to move around in. Imagine me trying to dodge attacks in a dress." I remembered how she'd looked, so young and so cute, so normal and so vulnerable. Her current clothes just made her look a little butch. Interesting, but butch. And that tattoo certainly gave the impression that she was older compared to when she wore that dress. "You'd still like to see me wear it again, wouldn't you?" I didn't answer but she gave a smile and ran a hand over my hair. "I'll wear it again someday. I promise. We can even go to the beach again." She picked up the bags and handed me mine. "Let's go home." She took my arm and we flashed back into Providence.

Continuous clicking noises started coming from the hall and we all turned to see Nina coming in.

"Whoa." I was speechless. She looked so beautiful. She was wearing black high heels that wrapped around her ankles like vines (only visible because she was hurrying and lifting the dress a few inches to walk), heels that looked rather tall and thin and painful, though she was walking in them like she was familiar with them. The dress was light grey, matching Doctor Holiday's, but styled very differently. It went around her neck like a turtleneck blouse would but her shoulders and arms were bare. I could just barely see the ends of her collarbones reaching towards her shoulders. The top of the dress was loose around her torso but then a band at the waist made it more fitted and flowed down neatly from there down to her ankles in flowing accordion pleats. A clutch purse in black was in one of her hands but she wasn't wearing any jewellery except for a pair of earring that looked like mini chandeliers. She was wearing a bit of makeup with different shades of grey eye-shadows blended almost artistically and her lips were painted a deep shade of red.

I don't know how long I was staring but she started to laugh softly.

"Stop drooling," she said. I shook my head a little.

"How am I not supposed to drool when you come out looking like _that_?" I asked.

"Well, don't stare too much. It makes me think something's off. Ready, Doctor, Six, Rex?"

"Let's go," Six said stoically. "You look...nice." She snickered.

"Thanks, Six. You look the same." I laughed.

"I think green is Six's favourite colour or something," I responded. Six just started walking, Holiday in tow and I began walking towards them.

"People, _where_ are you going?" Nina said, stopping them. We all turned to see her wiggling her fingers in the air. "Human teleportation device, remember. I know where we're going, remember?" I slapped my forehead.

"Duh. How are you doing that with all four of us though." She laughed smugly.

"All I need you guys to do is hold hands and not let go."

The teleportation still made me dizzy and even Six looked like he wasn't feeling all that stable. Holiday looked like she was taking it better than we were. Nina walked ahead of us and only then did I realise that her entire back was showing, her whole tattoo visible.

"Confident girl, huh?" Holiday commented, realising the same. Nina approached a guy with shoulder-length black hair wearing a suit that looked like it was in the same price range as mine, whatever that was. A silver chain was around the collar of his shirt. He almost reminded me of Van Kleiss but was a lot easier on the eyes. Actually, I had to admit, the guy was pretty good looking. Down to his shoes were looking pristine and expensive.

"Grr," he growled at her. "Here for the host, I assume."

"No, I'm here for the free food and the opportunity to look hot, not like I don't always," she said smugly. After a second more, he bent down and she hugged him, both of them laughing.

"Nice to see you again, Nina."

"You, too, Zane. How on Earth did you know where to send the invis though?"

"I know everything, Nina." Her hands came to her hips.

"No, seriously, how did you know?"

"Will you hit me if I told you I followed you one time?" She smacked him with her clutch and he cringed away in pain.

"Of course I'd hit you. You could have just called. My cell phone still works." His eyes went to us behind her and then flickered back to her. "Oh, shit." She half turned back to us. "Zane, this is Rex, Doctor Holiday and Agent Six. Guys, this is Zane." Zane extended his hand for us all to shake.

"Nice to meet you all," he said, smiling. Six and Holiday responded similarly. "I'm so glad that you've been caring well for my fiancée."

"Fiancée?" I spat. Nina hit him again and he looked back at her with a frown.

"Is fiancée too much? Would you prefer I refer to you as my mistress?" I thought I was about to collapse.

"Shut up, Zane. Rex is my _boyfriend_," she retorted. His face lightened and became...pleasantly surprised.

"Finally? Congratulations!" His hands came to my shoulders and I was confused.

"Wait. What do you mean by 'finally'?" I asked.

"Nina has spoken endlessly about the boy she sees in her head. I feel kind of like I already know you. Finally we meet. And finally, you are together. How wonderful!" His hands dropped back to his side.

"By, the way, don't listen to everything he says. He's a pathological liar," Nina warned, jabbing him in the ribs.

"Oh, come now, is that the way to treat the host?" he complained.

"If it's you, it's fine. You deserve it anyway for trying to give my boyfriend a heart attack. These three might be most likely to believe anything you say about me because they haven't really been able to pinpoint my exact history." He gave a contrite smile.

"Forgive me, Rex, Agent and Holiday. I have a tendency to mess with all of Nina's comrades. We've known each other for a long time."

"Three years is hardly a long time, Zane," she argued.

"Three years is long when you consider that life can end at any moment."

"That point contradicts itself."

"How so?"

"Because you're an idiot, Zane. To anyone that's about to die, they'll always think that they needed more time."

"I'm not an idiot! I only act it. I swear."

"I believe you, Zane," she said, sarcastically. "I believe you." She shifted her attention back to us and her look was apologetic. "Would you guys like to get something to eat now?"

The array of appetizers spanned an entire round table about a yard and a half in diameter. A chocolate fountain stood at the middle of the table surrounded by different fruits, pastries, meat kebabs, and finger foods. Waiters circulated regularly with thin, tall glasses of champagne and different wines. Zane had whispered to us to take at least one of everything and then ran off somewhere.

"Sorry about the squabble. If Zane and I aren't arguing or insulting each other, it's rare. I'm sure you have questions," she said, grabbing a strawberry off the table and taking a bite.

"How do you know that guy? How old is he? What does he do? And is there anything in particular that you should tell me?" I asked. The questions were coming out from my deep burning curiosity and in the back of my mind, I knew it sounded suspicious and like I didn't trust her. She looked at me and just laughed.

"I'd rather like to know that myself," Six stated. I wondered if he was trying to cover for me.

"Which one?" she said, raising an eyebrow at him. She looked back at me. "Zane's twenty-three. His father ran a chain of boutiques and clothing shops that are very successful, but he died when Zane was young and so he took on the mantle at twenty-one. The first time I met him, he was gambling, very badly actually. I'd read the story straight off of him when I touched his hand. When his father died, he wasn't immediately the heir; his half brother whose mother was not his wife was, and he treated Zane rather badly. He had been there trying to make a bit of money for himself to try to get a business of his own going.

"I decided to play for him so after I cleared out everyone at the table, I handed it over to him. I explained that I had just wanted to help and he was proud at first but after I kicked his ass a little and spoke to him, he accepted my help and we became friends. I got the full back story and I encouraged him to take back what was rightfully his. He proved his worth and competency to the company and was given the position of head a few months later. He still hung out with me, after that, acting like a normal teenager. Most times he's in plain clothes. He prefers to work out of office, going to the stores individually. I taught him to gamble better and you could say he's one of the few close friends I have. Best friends, maybe even. I haven't thought about it much so I never put a label on him stronger than friend, despite all that history. Heh, I'm just careless like that.

"As for if I have anything to tell you," she gave a wicked smile, "nothing's ever happened between us. We're just friends."

"Oh, come now," Zane said, coming to rejoin us and placing himself behind Nina, his hands on her shoulders, "you can't say _nothing's_ ever happened between us. I asked you to marry me a few months ago. You just flat out told me no." I gave a nervous laugh and scratched the back of my head.

"Funny joke," I said.

"Actually, he's serious. He did ask me to marry him and I did tell him no. I'm a minor, first of all and I won't marry anyone if we're not in love." He shrugged.

"You're the closest thing to love I'll probably ever get."

"Well, don't go all emo on us. You're young. You have time. And there are lots of pretty girls out there." He looked at Doctor Holiday and grinned at her. "Stop looking at Doctor Holiday. She's too nice for you," Nina said without having looked up at him. Holiday laughed. I don't know if I saw Six's expression slightly change or not.

"How did you—"

"I'm just that damn good. I know you."

The music changed to something Spanish and rather upbeat, different enough from the calm music to be noticeable.

"Rex, will you allow me to borrow Nina for just one dance? I promise I'll give her back," he asked me. How could I say no to the host?

"Uh, sure. Knock yourself out."

"I didn't say yes," she rebutted.

"You didn't say no." He came in front of her and took her by the hand and the waist and wandered off with her to a spot not very far away. The dance was a fast Spanish dance and it peeved me how close he was holding her. And how willing she was to dance with him. She was smiling and laughing, enjoying herself and looking spectacular as she did. I wished it was me that she was smiling for.

"He likes her. A lot," Holiday said. "It's so obvious how enchanted he is by her. How could she not see that? Plus, he's so handsome."

"Thank you, Doctor. I hadn't noticed," I said, peeved even more.

"Oh, sorry, Rex. Wait, are you jealous?"

"Jealous? Ha! Okay, I'm jealous. Look how happy she looks with him."

"But she has you, Rex. Don't you trust her?" Six asked. I rubbed the back of my neck and glanced at the floor.

"I do. It's just that we're missing the kind of history that they have. And it seems to me like there's no reason why she wouldn't want him. I'll admit, the guy's a stud."

"You've just got to trust her to know what she wants, Rex. Nothing more that you can do," Holiday said.

"Oh, alright," I acquiesced, glancing back up at them. I turned back around just in time to catch the last fifteen seconds of them dancing closely, so closely and see the exhilarated look on her laughing face and the contented and clearing pining look on his. He bowed slightly after the dance and she gave a small curtsy in response. They laughed, embraced and then she walked back over, still laughing.

"That was amazing. I didn't know you could Spanish dance so well," I said. My tone sounded kind of down. I couldn't let her know what was—

"What's up? You're not yourself," she said, quickly, face looking concerned. Lie or truth? But it hit me. We were in a relationship. Lying was out of the question if I wanted this to work. I'd only lie to her if I absolutely had to and if it couldn't be avoided or smoothed over quickly.

"You love Zane, don't you?"

"Well, yeah. I'd kill anyone that tries to harm him. We've always been there for each other. He made things seem better while Circe was away."

"And he's clearly in love with you. I saw how you looked there with him. I don't understand how you could not want him." She looked me in the eyes warmly and took my hands in hers. Her smouldering look made me silent and kept my eyes on hers.

"I want _you_, Rex. He's not you. I've always loved you. He's amazing and I love him but not in the same way that I love you." She gave me one light soft kiss and then embraced me for a moment. "Six, Holi, would you please excuse us?" She took my hand and led me out to the terrace which was surprisingly unoccupied. A large lawn lay beyond and a fountain was going not too far away from where we were. A path wound oddly throughout the lawn.

We stopped at the centre of the terrace and she took my hands again.

"Rex, will you dance with me?" she asked softly.

"I don't know if I can keep up," I admitted.

"You lead. I'll follow."

"The music is kind of faint out here."

"I'll sing for you. Just let the song take you." She gave me a cute smile and I put my hand on her waist and took her hand. She drew nearer so that her lips were at my ear and she began singing a soft song in a language I didn't understand. I didn't really think I had to. My feet moved as if it was a natural thing to do, strangely seeming in time and she moved in sync with me every step. As the song went on, I admired her voice and the grace with which we were moving and how we seemed so linked with each other by the uniformity of our movement. Her voice was beautiful. It had a soul to it that was relaxing me. She was pressed against me almost dependently and it felt so intimate.

The song ended and she switched into another one, in English this time. It was a melancholy song, sounding old and jazzy, but just as relaxing. Any jealousy I'd felt towards Zane was now gone. I understood now that she loved me and wanted me and only me. I was feeling her whole heart with mine. She was being very soft and vulnerable here with me. No trace of the defensive fighter was visible. Only the girl that loved me. My eyes closed and soon the song ended but we continued to dance a minute more.

When we finally stopped, I reached down to kiss her, feeding her my feelings and my appreciation, thanking her for showing me this unguarded side of her and letting her know that she was loved. She met me with a hunger of her own, one that only served to fuel mine. My hands roamed the smooth, inked skin of her back, amazed by the warm, silky feeling of it and how solidly muscular it was. Her hands knotted in my hair. My other hand was at the back of her neck. Each second of the kiss was taking me deeper into the dimensions of my heart. I loved her. She spoke to me like no one ever had without saying a word.

I felt my breath going and she drew back, also at her limit. I got in a little air and I kissed her again shortly, once, twice, three times, four times. When I looked at her, her eyes were dancing and her face was adorned with a light blush as she breathed a little harder than usual. Her hands dropped to my chest, mine to her shoulders.

"I didn't tell you but you're beautiful," I said. I never thought that I would have been in a situation like this, saying these things to a girl or proclaiming love, but now that I was, I felt truer to myself because of it.

"I'll wear makeup more often if you want."

"No, _you're_ beautiful. Even without makeup. I love how you look. You're so beautiful." She seemed surprised that I had said that and then she smiled back at me.

"Then I deserve a place beside you. I'm happy." My lips returned to hers again and her tongue made its way along my lips and then very slightly through, touching mine own ever so slightly. She didn't go any further than that. Her tongue went back through our linked lips and she tilted her head back ever so slightly. I wished that we could have stayed like that forever in that non-verbal exchange of hearts and feelings. It was an oasis that soothed my soul. A kiss had never before seemed like it carried such meaning. But this was a kiss between people who loved each other. It was something deeper than words could convey. I was hers. No doubt about it.

The kiss ended but I took her into my arms and held her tightly to me. She was my world. That was why this felt so good and so right.

"Nina, I love you."

"I love you, too, Rex. Please stay with me."

"I will. As long as you want me." Out of the corner of my eye, I could just notice the eyes on us. I couldn't care less.

"Hey, Rex, did you ever think that we're too young to be feeling like this?"

"The thought occurred to me. But then I saw you and realised that age can't matter. Feelings like this, age has nothing to do with it." I stroked my hands up and down her back.

"Mmm. Rex." She squeezed me closer for a second. "And no, you can't get me out of this dress." I gave a small laugh. Slowly, I was becoming acclimatised to her sense of humour.

"You can't get me out of this tux either."

"Oh, darn. And I was so looking forward to it, too."

"Well, too bad. It's only fair."

"I guess you're right."

Six cleared his throat and we looked towards him, still in each other's arms.

"Maybe you two should come back to the ball. It'll look bad if you two just keep each other's company," he said.

"Will you dance with me, Six?" she asked as we released each other.

"No," he said plainly and then walked away.

"You'll dance with me, right, Rex?"

"Sure. All you want."

We headed to the appetiser table first to get some food and we danced a few times. I managed to convince Doctor Holiday to dance with me once but Six wouldn't budge. It took the three of us by surprise when the host of the party took centre stage and performed a slow jazz song. I was surprised. He was rather good. Right after his performance, which earned loud and hearty applause, he came right back over to us.

"You sing too. You must be some kind of Renaissance-man," I commented. "I forgot to ask, though. What's the occasion?"

"Today's my birthday. And speaking of birthdays, isn't yours sometime soon, Nina?"

"Shhh!" she exclaimed, putting her hand over his mouth. He did something that made her move her hand.

"Did you just lick me?"

"It got the job done, didn't it? Your hand tastes funny."

"Hair gel. Rex's. I should have put my hand down his pants." His eyes narrowed and I had to try not to blush and laugh at the same time.

"You're sick."

"And you're a womaniser, but why name call?"

"Let's get one thing straight. I'm a flirt, not a womaniser. One is worse than the other."

"Good thing. Any worse and you'd be intolerable." They stared at each other with narrowed eyes for a long moment but then his face smoothened out.

"But, no, seriously, are you going to do the same thing as usual this year?" he asked.

"How do you know what I've been doing on my birthday?"

"Haven't we gotten past this? I followed you." She rolled her eyes.

"So we can add 'stalker' to that list of names."

"Ditto for you, babe. Constantly following Rex's reality can be considered stalking, too. Now you've even gotten him to fall for you. Major stalker." She folded one arm and balanced her chin on her fist in a considering gesture.

"You're right. And I prefer the term 'watching with love'." He rolled his eyes.

"Whatever you say, _loca_. Now answer the question." She exhaled and shrugged.

"I don't know. A lot has happened this year. I'm not sure what it'll be like if I go." I resisted the temptation to ask. It seemed like a touchy subject. I'd ask her later, when we were alone.

"Well, alright. Tell me if you cancel. We can go clubbing. Man, I'd love to see you dance like that again—" She put her hands over his mouth again and this time he bit her.

"Ow! Dog!" She hit him on the arm with her hand. "Hey, where's my purse?" she asked, wandering off away from us in the direction of the appetiser table.

Minutes to twelve, we all decided to go home. Well, decided isn't exactly right. Holiday was drunk and about to pass out at any minute. We needed to get her home and in bed. We went to Zane to inform him of our departure.

"Leaving so soon? Can't you stay a little longer?" he begged, curling his lip at us and trying to put on a puppy dog face.

"Can't. Holiday is way past tipsy," she answered.

"Really? Why don't you let me handle her?"

"No way, _hentai_."

"What's a 'hentai'?" I whispered to Six.

"Pervert," he whispered back.

"Oh, before I forget, your present," she said. She dug in her purse and retrieved a diamond ring.

"Why are you giving me back the engagement ring that I told you to keep?" he asked.

"Because I'm giving you hope. You can't be so negative. Someone will come along." He seemed to consider but then accepted it.

"You're right. Thank you. I can at least try, right?"

"Exactly." He gave her a tight hug.

"It was nice to meet you, all. Especially you, Rex. I should warn you that if you hurt her she'll break all the bones in your body and use your helplessness as an excuse to kiss you when you can't fight back." She smacked him on the arm. "Ow. But no seriously, if you hurt her, she'll hurt you and then I'll come to rub salt in your wounds before they begin to heal." I saluted.

"Yes, sir. Got it."

"It's just too bad that it wasn't you who got drunk," he turned back to her.

"You know I don't drink. Not after Circe drank too much last time she came and you nearly kissed her. We're leaving. Goodbye."

"Don't be a stranger," he told her. "Call me and tell me all the juicy gossip, like the first time you and him fu—" She right out punched him in the stomach and he doubled over.

"Let's go," she sang nonchalantly, turning me around. Doctor Holiday had actually passed out by now and Six had her in his arms. I wondered silently if he was loving that. We began to walk away from him. I wondered if he was alright.

"Bye, Nina, my love. I love you!" he shouted in an exuberant tone. She just waved back at him, then she took my hand and touched Six's arm and in a second, we were gone.

**What do you think of Zane? What did you think about the terrace scene? Give me some feedback if you'd like to let me know.**


	16. Chapter 16

~o~

Six began heading straight for the hallway leading to Doctor Holiday's room.

"Hey, Six, dance with the woman next time. Then she won't drink so much," Nina said. He did the usual eyebrow raise at her.

"How is this _my_ fault?" he replied.

"You may either pretend not to notice or reject her feelings entirely, but I see right through the ruse both of you try to hold up. Just try not to do anything you'll regret on your death bed. Later, Six." She took my hand again and we were suddenly on the roof again, but in the middle of it rather than by the edge. I was feeling dizzy and I figured dizziness on a high up place was a bad idea, so I took my time and took a seat. I ended up lying down to wait for the world to stabilise. Almost immediately, she came to lay by my side, her back pressed against my outstretched arm. After a second like that, she turned on her side and scooted as close as possible. My arm curled around her waist, my hand rested on her elbow. Her arm came onto my chest, soon followed by her head and one of her legs rested across mine, bent at the knee.

"Nina?"

"Yeah, Rex?"

"When is your birthday?" She chuckled humourlessly.

"Rex, can this be the one thing I don't tell you? Ask me anything else once it doesn't have anything to do with my birthday."

"Well, I won't force you but I'd really like to know. You know when they celebrate mine. It's the same day as Six's and the first time I came to Providence. I just think you should celebrate. I'd like to celebrate you." She chuckled again, rubbing two small circles on my chest with her palm.

"My birth has been shadowed by all the bad things that happened on the anniversary of that day. I've just gotten too used to trying not to remember that day so I don' have to think about it. Usually, I end up thinking about it anyway, but I hoped that one day, I'll forget it altogether and forget the pain I've been through." I squeezed her elbow.

"I'm always here for you. Don't forget that."

"I know. Thank you. Same goes for you, too." I looked down at her just as her eyes fluttered closed. We were at peace. The universe felt right at that moment. She was relaxed with me. It relaxed me in turn. "Mmm, your heart beat is strong. Your heart must be strong, too."

"I hope so. But you're missing the most important thing."

"Yeah? What's that?"

"It's yours."

"Mmm, I like the sound of that. Thank God for that one." She was silent for a long moment and I thought maybe she'd fallen asleep. "You make me feel all unstable and excited and calm all at the same time. I kind of like it. I really think if after I'd experienced all this you got bored and left me, I'd be distressed."

"But I won't."

"Interesting is temporary."

"Love isn't. At least I think so." Her head jerked up and I saw her looking at me.

"So do I. That's why it'll hurt. Because I'd love you forever and you wouldn't care less."

"It won't happen, Nina. If it does, I won't leave until I find someone to replace me." She chuckled, her leg straightening a little and then bending again, her head going back to as it was.

"Oh, Rex, no one could replace you. You're unique. That's why everybody wants you."

"That's why I'm yours. And that's why you're mine."

"That I am. I'm yours. Until..."

"Don't start that again."

"Hm, alright. Just this once, we can ignore reality and get lost in this dream-fantasy. Just this once, I'll say we'll last forever. And I won't make the fatal mistake other girls make and even think about talking about marriage."

"Why not?"

"Focus, Rex. I said because it's the one fatal mistake other girls make."

"You're not other girls and I'm not other guys. We can talk about it."

"_I_ don't want to. I'll love you forever but I'm not sure if I want to be married. Living together is out of the question—Okay, I'm done. No more talk. Sorry I brought it up." I let it go.

"The sky is so pretty."

"I think your eyes are more beautiful, especially when they're all glazed over from when we kiss."

"Mmm, that kiss from earlier was mesmerising. I can't believe I'm the first guy you kissed."

"Ditto about you. If I allowed you to throw my self-control out the window, I'd never stop kissing you."

"Ditto about that. Your voice is beautiful, by the way. What language was that first song?"

"Japanese. I speak a little. I kind of just learnt off the song though."

"How do you say 'I love you'?"

"_Daisuke yo_."

"How cute. The second song sounded familiar. I think I heard it in a movie once."

"You probably have. It's a _Julie London_ song."

"I remember the movie. V reminds me a little of Six, except he has more emotions." She laughed.

"You're right. V admitted he was in love, he admitted that he wanted revenge and he cried for himself and for her and for what he had done and what he was to do."

"It was such a sad song though."

"I love sad songs. They're my favourites. They're so raw and emotional. The pain is so vivid. It's addictive and horrid."

"Are you scared to be in love with me?"

"Yes. I don't want this to end. I don't want to be hurt."

"Then trust me. I won't let you fall and not catch you. I'm scared, too, but I'll do what I have to to keep you here with me." She moved up a little so that she could kiss me, and the kiss was slow and soft and short.

"And I'll kiss you everyday so you won't forget that I'm in love with you."

"And I'll kiss back so you won't forget that it's mutual. I should take you inside. You must be getting cold."

"I couldn't be warmer." We stayed like that for a long time, trapped wonderfully in each other's embrace. Call it whipped, but I'd found my passion being at her side. Circe was in the past now. My present and my future was Nina.

After maybe an hour there, we went back inside and I walked her to her door. We got stuck there for maybe about ten minutes because somehow we'd ended up kissing again and neither of us really wanted to stop. Her hair had escaped the dozen or so bobby pins, whether with my help or not I wasn't too sure, and was flowing freely around her face. My fingers were knotted in it like hers were in mine. I could feel her against almost the entire length of my body. At some point, I managed to get some thought going and broke free from the hypnotism of her lips.

"If someone catches us, we could get in big trouble for some kind of crap like indecency," I said.

"You're right. Take two steps back."

"Let go of my hair."

"You first."

"Aw!" I whined. Eventually, I freed my fingers from the silk softness and her hands came away from my hair. She took me into her embrace and I hugged back as fiercely as she did.

"_Buena noche, amor_," I said after we'd separated.

"_Bonne nuit, cheri_. Sweet dreams."

"Same to you." I walked away, ignoring the little demon in my head telling me to go back and take her lips again and smiled to myself. I heard a girlish squeal of excitement and prided myself that I had caused it. Things were sweet. Very sweet.


	17. Chapter 17

~o~

Nina walked into the foyer the next morning whistling and looking just as happy as I had.

"Oh, good morning, everyone. And how are—"

"What really happened at that party last night?" Bobo asked suggestively. She threw a coin at him and it hit him in the centre of his head.

"I should warn you, I carry these things around just to do that."

"Yeah, but both you and Rex look like you're on happy pills and Holiday came in drunk last night with Six carrying her. The world seems a bit topsy-turvy if you ask me."

"Maybe you should have come. All the sweets and alco you could want was there."

"Oh, mamma. I won't forgive you."

"_Breaking Benjamin_, remember? You still love me for that. And I didn't control that one. Zane sent invis for exactly four people. White decided who the other two were. But knowing him, he knew exactly who he wanted at the party. Chances are, he knew Six and Holiday and Rex were to come and just neglected to put their names on it for fear of it looking odd."

Bobo raised a brow for all of us.

"How would he have known about them? You been talking about your new family?"

"I didn't mention that Zane is what we call an overseer, did I? He sees what's going on in places that he is not, kind of like my ability to see the future but he sees the present. He's been spying on me anyway. I understand he saw the whole Avis Bay incident. When I crawled out of the water, I was severely scolded and swore at for trying to kill myself. I wonder if he's the reason why my language is so bad. Hmm."

"Um, Nina, you're rambling again," I said.

"Oh, sorry. I told you that you need to stop me at some point. I can seriously talk forever. Good luck with me, by the way."

"Keep the fantasy, Nina. Remember what we talked about yesterday on the roof."

"Oh, right. Okay. Anyway, I'm just going to go for an innocent little walk to the Petting Zoo."

"Want me to come?"

"No, you stay here with Six. Go check on Holi, in fact. I'll be back in a few." She walked off.

"She's definitely suspicious. Maybe you should follow her?" Six suggested.

"Maybe not. I really want to check Holiday. She must have a wicked hangover."

"I'll come with ya. Tell me all about the party on the way there," Bobo said.

"Okay."

I was taken aback when we came to find Doctor Holiday sitting at her desk working as normal. She seemed in chipper spirits, too.

"Aren't you supposed to have a hangover, Doc?" I asked as I walked in.

"Yeah, I heard all the dirty deets. Six had to carry you and stuff," Bobo added.

"He carried me? Really? Well, as for the hangover, someone left some pills that made me feel great. I'd bet a hundred bucks that it was Nina."

"She's got all sorts of interesting things. I'd bet on that, too. Zane seems to be a nice guy."

"You aren't still jealous, are you?"

"Nah. Not after the time we spent on that terrace."

"Ooh! Tell me what happened."

"Sorry, Doc. I think I'll keep that one to myself," I said, smiling sheepishly.

"Oh, so that's how it's gonna be. You get a girlfriend and the monkey starts being outta the loop. Cutting deep, chief, cutting deep," Bobo said. I shrugged at him and Holiday just gave a small laugh as he walked off.

"So what brings you here, Rex?"

"Nina told me to come check you."

"That's strange. She usually comes. How come she sent you? Did she have a hangover?"

"She didn't drink anything but flavoured water all night. And she headed to the Petting Zoo all suspicious-like." She narrowed her eyes a little.

"Maybe you should go check. She's a sweetheart but she's capable of so much mischief."

"I know. But she told me to go check you like she was trying to keep me out of trouble though."

"More reason to go check. You know that she and White have a shaky kind of relationship."

"True. Come with?"

"Sure. Maybe we can help her cover up."

"Hey, Doc, you're really excited to have a girl here, aren't you?"

"I guess I am. She's like happy gas or something."

"I know exactly what you mean."

We headed to the foyer and just as we got there, White appeared and stopped us.

"One of the cells in the Petting Zoo have just been disengaged. Rex, Six, I want you to go check it out. Where's Nina?" he asked. Just as he had said her name, Circe ran in, Nina behind her. In a second, Nina twisted Circe's arm behind her back and held it there.

"Um, I've got the escapee under my control, White. You can go back to—"

"Quit the ruse, Nina. I know it was you who let her out," he replied flatly. "Do you have any idea how dangerous—"

"She's collared. Harmless."

"And suppose she throws you over her shoulder and incapacitates you?"

"He actually thinks I can beat _you_ up?" Circe whispered to her. Nina laughed quietly.

"If she does that, Six will take her."

"You can't let her run around, Nina. No matter your attachment. She's still the enemy. If she gets a good look around Providence—"

"But she won't."

"She might—"

"But she won't."

"You can't say that —"

"_But she won't_. Take an American chill-pill, White. You hired me because I'm competent. I was just taking Circe to clean up. You guys are mean to most of your prisoners. I won't let her out of my sights. Remember, she's a girl, too." White gave that little indication that he was acquiescing again, one breath.

"If she gets out of your sights, I'll have your head."

"Atta boy, White. Later." The screen blackened.

"Nina, let go. It hurts. You nearly ripped my arm off! Unnecessary much?" Circe said. She released her and Circe gave her shoulder a rub.

"Sorry."

"Do you really think you can talk to the White Knight like that?"

"Who _don't_ I talk like that to? I know my attitude is bad, but it gets me what I need, doesn't it? Zane says hi." Circe blushed. I remembered what Nina had said about Circe almost having kissed him.

"Yeah, I'll never drink again."

"Until the next time Zane invites us somewhere."

"Hey!"

"Should I even ask how you got her out of her cell?" Six said, raising an eyebrow at her, arms crossed.

"Let's just say you can add lock picking to my list of unorthodox skills," Nina said, making a face.

"Holy crap, I'm dating a criminal!" I exclaimed, my palm contacting with my face.

"Hey! At least I'm cute."

"At least."

"I'll be back. I'm going to get Circe to a bathroom. Then we can all eat together." Just as they walked off, Holiday shouted, "Thanks for the pills, Nina!"

"You're welcome," she shouted back from the hall. I watched her walk off.

It was half an hour before they came back and the only thing that alerted us that they were coming was loud and sudden laughter coming from the hall.

"What took you so long?" I asked. Nina smirked.

"White told me to keep to keep her in my sights so I had to help her shower and stuff. You should see the tiny tattoo on her ass—"

"Nina!" Circe objected. "Ugh! Don't listen to her! I don't have a tattoo."

"He'll never know the truth. Unless, of course, he happens to see your ass."

"Not gonna happen, Nina."

"Sure."

"Why I am friends with you again?"

"Because I'm fun, pretty, loveable and, most of all, badass." Circe rolled her eyes.

"I doubt."

"Don't doubt. The proof is right in front of your eyes." Circe's hand contacted with the back of Nina's head.

"Hey, why'd you cut your hair though? It was so long and pretty."

"Your hair was long? I wonder what it looked like," I said.

"You would have loved it, Rex. It went all the way to her butt and she was proud of it. When _did_ you cut it?" Nina shrugged.

"A year ago. I donated it."

"Grow it back. I liked it."

"I'll think about it."

"Rex would love to run his hands through that when you're kiss—"

"Mental image, Cirs. Not helping."

"I know. Wickedness is a two way street."

"So is violence." Circe made a zipping action over her lips. "By the way, Circe is joining Providence. Prepare one of those little white suits for her."

"What? No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are. I'm not going to be like Rex and put up with you being on the wrong side. Come on, Circe. You have no good reason for not joining."

"But, the Pack and Van Kleiss. They're my family—"

"I recall a certain incident where Van Kleiss was willing to let you die if Rex didn't join them. Still think they're family?"

"I—How do you know that?"

"I see the future, remember?"

"You don't—"

"Only say the word 'understand' and this is going to turn into another fight."

"But Nina—"

"No buts. You're going to do the right thing, Circe. You're going to do what you know you should."

"I hate it when you bully me, Nina."

"I only bully you when you're being an unreasonable assw—an unreasonable child. Should I give you some time to think about how right I am?"

"You're lucky I'm not as strong or profane as you, Nina. Then you'd be in trouble."

"Would you let me protect you just this once? It's for your own good. Tell her, Rex."

"Can I stay out of this one?" I begged.

"Smart decision, Rex," Circe said, throwing me a look. Her eyes returned to Nina. "I'll think about it."

"Yay!" she exclaimed, hugging her.

Not long after, we finally settled down to breakfast and Circe was telling me about some of the times that they had had together.

"Nina has beat me up a few times," Circe said.

"I said I was sorry. In any case, you fought back and I ended up with some bruises. I never left any scars."

"No scars, but lots of bruises. You are far too butch to be a girl." She shrugged.

"I never started a fight when it was uncalled for. I have to put up with your emo shit sometimes and that just sends me over the edge."

"Stop cursing."

"Sorry." Noah walked in and took a seat next to me, across from Nina. He noticed Circe and looked shocked.

"Woah! That's the chick from Cabo Luna, isn't she?"

"Oh, right. Noah, this is Circe. Circe, Noah," I introduced with a gesture of the hand. They exchanged greetings and he noticed when she took Nina's can of soda and finished it.

"These two are friends?" he asked.

"Circe's my girlfriend. Bisexuals can have both, right?" Nina answered. Noah's forehead wrinkled.

"Ignore her. We're just really good friends," Circe clarified.

"Do they know that you've got a thing for both of them?"

"Had. And I don't just have a thing for Nina." Noah grinned.

"What would you call it?"

"Oh, come on, man. Don't make me say it."

"I think it's a true test of affections. Won't you sacrifice your pride to say it frankly?"

"Yeah, Rex. Say it," Circe encouraged. Nina just sat there with a small smile, hands one on the other under her chin, elbows on the table.

"Okay, so I'm in love with her. Happy?"

"Very," the two said.

"Stop it, guys. Don't embarrass him," Nina said.

"How about you? How do you feel about him?" Circe said.

"I love him. I'll be clear and frank about it. That's certainly no way to torture me. You'll have to do better than that, Cirs."

"That's cute. Good luck dealing with her, though."

"Why does everyone tell me that?" I asked.

"Because it's obvious she's insane."

"Even White doesn't trust me," Nina added, nodding.

"White doesn't trust anybody. I don't even think he fully trusts me," I admitted.

"Oh, but he does. He just acts all hoity-toity and strict. He trusts you, Six and Holiday a lot. Everyone else is in the grey," Nina countered.

"How do you—"

"I'm perceptive, remember? He won't trust such sensitive things to people he doesn't trust. Why else do you think I haven't been on the field as yet?"

"Because we've been training."

"But you and Six have been out there eight times since I came." I shot her a glance. We hadn't told her that. "Oh, what, you think you people can keep things from me? It doesn't matter where you guys send me so I don't know. I always know. I'm the worst person to keep secrets from. That's why if something is up, just tell me. I can deal with just about anything." The conversation was getting heavy. Someone needed to change the topic.

"So, where'd you guys go yesterday? Six answered your phone when I asked to come over and said that you were going out for the evening," Noah asked.

"One of Nina's friends invited us to a birthday ball. Real black tie affair kind of stuff. I had to wear a suit and all. And this time, it wasn't one of Six's."

"I _missed_ that? Oh, man. I'd love to see pictures."

"Hold on," Nina said, pulling a touchscreen device from her pocket. She moved her fingers quickly, tapping and scrolling and tapping as she went and after about a half minute, she handed it to him. "Zane posted them to his profile. Go through the album. He had photographers around. You and Holiday probably didn't notice. Six did. He refused to smile though. There're a few pics of us, Rex." Noah held it in the middle so that both of us could look and Circe got up and stood behind us. No one was tagged in the pictures, but there were a lot. He even took a picture of the food table and the waiters when they were lined up before the event.

"Man, that food looks good," Noah commented.

"It tasted good."

"Did you have any champagne at least for me?"

"I tried. Nina kept reminding me that we're still too young for it."

"Do you have any idea how tempted I would be to do him wickedness when he's tipsy or passed out? He'd regret having drank it later," Nina said. Circe and Noah laughed and they continued browsing through.

While they were flipping, a picture of Nina and I on the terrace came up. One where we had been lip locked.

"Oh, my gosh. Dude," Noah said. I just blushed and looked away.

"Woah. Someone had fun," Circe added.

"What?" Nina asked. They showed her the picture and Nina's face became slightly shocked and her mouth hung open. "I'm going to call Zane and curse him so badly!"

"It's so cute. And wow, you looked gorgeous," Noah said.

"Yeah. Look at this one with them standing next to each other. It's simply adorable," Circe said. They continued to flip through and they saw the one with Zane singing and the one after Nina had punched him.

"I'm going to assume the guy with the long black hair is Zane since he's in like half of them. And Holiday looks hot. And Six looks...the same."

"That's what I said!" Nina said laughing.

"That's a nice suit, man. Is it _Gabbana_?"

"_Dior_." I answered.

"_Dior_? How'd you get _that_?"

"I—"

"Angels brought it for him," Nina said smirking.

"I think you bought it for him. Do you know she took me to dye my hair for my birthday? Then she took me shopping. She paid for _everything_," Circe said.

"Hey, like I said, I've got nothing better to do with my money. Might as well spend it on those who matter to me," Nina responded. "Speaking of which...I'll be back." She got up and walked off.

"Not again!" I groaned.

"What's wrong?" Circe asked.

"Every time we sit together to talk in a group, she has to go do something."

"She's busy. She bailed on me a few times like that. When I started an argument about it, she took me to the place where she plays cards for money. I never complained about it after that."

"Do you think she goes out to gamble every time she leaves?"

"No, she told me she hasn't been there in weeks. She...I think her birthday is coming up."

"When is her birthday? She won't tell me."

"I don't really know. Zane just told me it's sometime around now. She never told me either. All I know is that she goes out for the whole day and I can't find her. I can't even tell you an exact date because she avoids me for like three whole weeks."

"So, it's a real mystery. Well, if she doesn't want me to know, I can respect that."

"I don't know. I don't like the idea of her being alone for that long. Zane doesn't even see her."

"On the topic of Zane and Nina, what's Nina's past love life been like?"

"Why don't you ask her?"

"I did, but she swears I'm the first guy she's been in love with. I wonder if she forgot. She certainly didn't mention he had proposed to her some months ago."

"She probably forgot. She forgets public holidays sometimes, the ones that are the same date every year. Except religious ones. As for your question, she was telling the truth. I always thought there was more between her and Zane than she let on, but after a while, I noticed she's very open with me, too. She was the same way with her brother. He loved to play with her hair and she used to hit him a lot."

"She still hits him a lot," I muttered. She snickered.

"It seemed to me that there was more between them. When I asked, she told me that she knew he had a thing for her but it wasn't mutual. It was just a crush then. But from the look of the pictures of when they were dancing, he loves her now."

"I could tell."

"I don't think he's ever kissed her though. She's always told me that she wishes that she'd get kissed before she died. I guess you made that happen for her at Avis Bay."

"She told you about that? In any case, _she_ kissed _me_."

"I was in the bathroom a long time. Girls take long in the bathroom. She had nothing better to do than answer my questions. Either way, you were her first kiss. Nina's coming. We should stop."

We hung out for the day with not much interference. Nina had plans to keep Circe in her room for the night. She didn't like the idea of her being in a cell. She trusted her not to do anything stupid, too. It reminded me of when I found out White had paid Noah to spy on me. At first, I was so angry that I wished he would just go away. But afterwards, I realised that we really were friends and we were cool. Of course, the issue between Circe and Nina was far graver, but I was just glad that they got the same happy resolution. They quarrelled frequently and hit each other a lot but there was a definite friendship behind it. It was kind of cute...and scary at the same time.

I was just lying on my bed reading a comic book and waiting for Nina and Circe to get out of the bathroom when she came in came to lie next to me.

"Oh, hey Nina."

"Hey. Oh, my gosh, I love that comic."

"You do?"

"I just said that."

"Wow. You like comic books. Interesting. Do you like cars, too?"

"Yes. A lot."

"So, cars, guns, violence, comic books, pretty girls and illegal and dangerous activities. You're interested in all the things guys usually are. Is it odd that I love you?"

"I think maybe the fact that we won't argue about things that much appeals to you. I might be crude but I'm still girlish enough to appeal to you physically. You can share your interests with me and I'll be open to it. You must like that."

"Yeah, but I can share my interests with Noah."

"Noah does not have boobs, nor is he female."

"And I doubt he'd look good in a dress."

"You never know. We should try that some time when it's just the four of us. We'll go into a clothes store and try on opposite gender clothes."

"Do you really think it would be a good idea to put me in a dress?"

"It might be cute."

"By the way, where's Circe?"

"Bathroom."

"Aren't you supposed to watch her?"

"I want to allow her some privacy. I offered to take the collar off for her but she told me that I was in enough trouble as is."

"Take off the collar? Are you crazy?"

"She's my friend, Rex. Not some kind of EVO monster."

"She's still an EVO and she still works for Van Kleiss."

"I'm working on that. Circe has always been one that can be swayed by profuse encouragement. I've convinced her to do all sorts of things, some right, some wrong. It's bad, but I guess this time it's for a good cause."

"Things change, Nina. She might not be the same girl you hung out with five years ago."

"I know. But I want to believe in her."

"Aw, I can't blame you for that."

"So, do you still like her?"

"Yeah, but only as a friend. Mostly I just keep thinking about this girl with this huge tattoo on her back."

"Hm, so you like reckless types, huh?"

"I know. Who would've thought?"

Her phone rang. Her ringtone was a _Lady Gaga_ song that I'd heard on the radio a million times. It was catchy though. The call was short.

"Circe's out of the bathroom and I have to go escort her back. Should we come back here or do you want some time alone?"

"You guys can come here. That's cool. But when the monkey falls asleep, we'll have to move or else we won't be able to hear anything but that." She tinkered with her phone a little and then handed it to me after a song started to play.

"This one is called 'So Happy I Could Die' by _Lady Gaga_. It's kind of how I feel right now. I'll be back before the song ends." She walked out and I started internalising the song. It sounded to me like the song was a bit dark just like its singer but it was a song that was pleasing to the ears. After two verses and two choruses, they walked in. Nina took a seat by my feet while Circe took the chair.

It was a lot of fun hanging out with them and I laughed till my stomach hurt. Their banter was so entertaining and hearing them talk about things they used to do, used to be interested in and things they still liked was more than just fascinating. This was the closest I'd ever been to the world of girls, even if they weren't the most typical of specimens. When Nina heard Six coming, she flashed into her room with Circe.

"Where's Nina and Circe? I heard they had been heading in this direction," he asked.

"Oh, come on, Six. You know I can't tell you that."

"I talked to White and he'll allow Circe to stay with Nina as long as she's willing to accept responsibility for Circe's actions."

"Oh, well, in that case, they headed to her room to run from you."

"Alright. I'm just going to check on them. Coming?"

"Thought you'd never ask, Six." I hopped off the bed and we went down the hall. Six just looked in and said goodnight. They responded cheerfully. Six told me that it was about time for lights to go out.

"I'll give you a minute but then you have to go to your room," he added.

"Thanks. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, kid." He walked away and Nina came outside and closed the door.

"So, I guess this is goodnight," she said, rocking back and forth on her heels. I put my hands on her shoulders to stop her and she looked contrite. She leaned her cheek onto my hand for a split second and then it lifted off again.

"Goodnight, Nina."

"Wait, you can't leave yet!"

"What's up?"

"You didn't kiss me for the day yet." I smiled and she looked at me a little shyly.

"Is that what you're worried about? That I'll go to bed without kissing you? Then I'd have to come right back." She laughed quietly and I gave her a hug. When she drew away, I brought my lips down to hers in another of those entrapping and electrifying kisses that only we could have. Just like time on the terrace, he tongue touched mine ever so slightly but that was it. After a few more seconds, the kiss was broken and we just looked at each other. She gave me a half-smile and my lips turned up at the corners, too.

"I'd really like to keep going but if Six passes back, we'll get in a lot of trouble," she said.

"Yeah. Goodnight." She tiptoed to place one soft kiss to my lips and then she let go and turned to her door which slid open.

"'Night. Sweet dreams." The door shut in front of me and I headed back to my room. There was nothing odd about loving Nina. It was just so easy and natural. She was a great person and she deserved to be happy. I was just lucky that she thought happy was with me.


	18. Chapter 18

~o~

I was shocked when I came into Nina's room the next morning to find Circe alone in her room, dressed and everything. She gave me a smile.

"Oh, hey, Rex. I have to stay with you today apparently."

"How come? Where's Nina?"

"You just missed her. She just said she had to go out on a special assignment and that she mightn't be back till six this evening."

"Special assignment? Wait a minute, what was she wearing?"

"Really, Rex? This early in the morning you want to start with that?"

"It's not meant to be kinky question, Circe. She dresses differently depending on where she goes. I can figure out if she went to church or not. Man, you've been hanging out with her a little too long."

"Oh. It's not Sunday. And haven't all of us?"

"She said something about confession once though."

"Oh, true. Anyway, she was wearing a white halter top with four belted straps on the back and some black dress pants and a long black coat. She was wearing her dog tags, too. She looked very...serious."

"Um, Circe, can you do me a favour?"

"You want me to stay here and stay out of trouble, don't you?"

"Please and thank you."

"Alright. She left her MP3 player and laptop so I guess I'll be okay."

"No contacting Abysus, okay?" She laughed.

"I won't. I really think I might be interested in joining Providence now though. Nina and you guys could be all the family I need."

"Atta girl. I'll see you later. Call if anything goes wrong."

"Alright. Good luck." I turned and ran to the foyer as best as I could but then realised that I didn't know where she was. I met Six there.

"Hey, do you know Nina's going?" I asked.

"She just passed through here. She'll be missing breakfast."

"Do you know where she's headed?"

"Not a clue. Why not ask the building?" For a second I thought Six was talking craziness but then it hit me. The tech in the building could definitely tell me where she passed. There were cameras and sensors everywhere.

I put a hand on the closest wall and after a few seconds I traced her path and discovered that she was a few steps from the building's front entrance.

"Thanks, Six. Later. I'm going out for a bit."

"Rex, wait," he tried to protest but I just continued going. Whatever his objections or his punishments, it would have to wait till later. For now, I had to confirm if my suspicions were true.

It struck me that following someone like Nina was not the smartest, easiest nor most ethical thing to do. It reeked of distrust, excessive curiosity and was just borderline stalker behaviour. Then again, Zane did it and she had done it to me a few times so what was the harm of me doing it just this once? It had nothing to do with trust. I knew she wasn't going to do anything that would hurt me. But I wondered if today was her birthday and I needed to know what it was she did that was secretive. I couldn't stand the thought that she might lay somewhere crying and lonely. Even if Nina did say that she didn't cry.

I made sure that at all times there were more than four feet between us but ensured also that she was never out of my sight. I tried not to use my machines. They would be a dead giveaway. They were orange after all and made quite the amount of noise. She walked the entire way there, taking her time, something that seemed odd to me because she lived life most of the time like she was in a hurry. She savoured slow moments, hugs, kisses, conversations, but getting from one point to another was always a rush. And she loved to use her powers to get around. Walking was not her preferred method of transportation.

She walked through a vast park, a park that I soon came to realise was not a park because gravestones were planted here and there. She walked on the path at times and ventured off of it at other times and soon she walked up a small hill. She stopped at the gravestone at the top of the small hill and knelt down and brushed her hand over the gravestone. Her hands hadn't left her pockets since the walk. I hid behind a tall pillar, trying to ignore the fact that it too was a gravestone. I knew I should have left. I didn't.

"Hey, Kent. It's Nina," she began. "It's that time of year again. It's been four years since you died and seven since you left to join Van Kleiss. I don't still resent you, so don't worry about it. You _were_ a good person, Kent. I really believe that, so I hope you've gotten to Heaven or you'll make your way up there. If you have to, bribe Peter." She laughed.

"Anyway, so I've got lots of things to tell you. I've actually gotten my first kiss and I have a boyfriend. It's Rex whom I've told you about, the boy you keep playfully calling 'Ron'. And I'm working for Providence now. White hates my guts because I oppose him all the time but Six and Holiday, the ninja and the doctor, they're pretty amazing people. Their hearts are so good, Kent, it makes me feel so happy to be around them. And somehow, I made Rex fall in love with me. I mean I know he deserves better, but just for now, I'm glad he's so willing to put up with me. It's like with every kiss I can feel myself healing, all those splintered edges and cracks. He's good for me, Kent. I can feel it. But I know I'm not good for him. You made me a bad influence after all, turning me into a flighty nomad and everything." She gave another laugh and bit her lip.

"I found Circe, Kent. She was with Van Kleiss and I've managed to mend our friendship. She's this close to being one of us. I wish you could have been here. You'd have been an awesome soldier. Gosh, what I would give to see you and Six have a sword fight. I wish you could meet everyone. Zane's birthday party was two days ago and I got to have fun. We quarrelled like always and I hit him a million times and I danced with him and Rex and one stranger. Rex's hands on my back made me want to melt. I think I really, really love him, Kent. I'm scared it will break me. I'm scared he'll grow fed up and start to loath me. I know I need an attitude adjustment. But for now, he's told me to get lost in the fantasy that this can last forever. He's so beautiful, Kent. I wish you could have met him. You guys would have been friends.

"Oh and Zane asked me to marry him. Naturally I said 'no' but I tried to give him back his hope for love. I mean you fell in love, didn't you? You loved that girl who worked in one of Zane's boutiques, back before I'd met him. She was so nice. Too bad she was engaged. You'd have been good for her. You could have loved her like she never thought possible. You had a little crush on Breech once, too, didn't you, despite how creepy she was? Of course you quickly got over that one, thank God." Another laugh.

"Anyway, so I think it's time I got _it_ removed. It's beautiful and I love it but I think, maybe, if I don't, I won't move on completely. I'm not the same girl I was six years ago. I need to make some drastic changes. I'm scared about what that will do to my relationships but that's the real test, isn't it? Seeing if people accept you after you change? Don't hate me for removing it, okay? I'll always be your little sister and I'll always love you more than you believed but I think if I want to become a decent and respectable _girl_, I've got to get rid of it. I want to give you back your tags, too. Remember when I won them from you? I think it's about time you got them back. You deserve it.

"Thanks for trying to come back. I'm sorry I was too sleepy to respond much. I pray for you every time I go to church, that your soul is okay. I said the Divine Mercy Chaplet while I walked here. I hope we're still cool. I don't know if I'll come back here next year. It depends completely upon what happens to me. Did I mention I almost died that day I met Rex? It's not his fault but I had to become someone new. I'm Nina again though. Rex reminded me that I'm still Nina and that no one was forcing Jenna on me. You remember that nickname, right?

"So, I should head to the tattoo parlour now. God alone knows how long it will take to remove all this. Why'd it have to be so big? We came into the guy's shop at eight in the morning and we didn't leave until eight in the night. Damn it, it hurt. Removing it will hurt more, I'm sure. But I'll use the pain to think about how you were feeling all that time you felt lost, alone and abandoned with and without me. I'm sorry about all the stress, big brother. You were a great big brother. I only wish I could have saved you. But I couldn't. And I'm sorry." She took off the tags and hung it over the gravestone. "Your tags back, as promised. I guess I'll see you when I see you. Peace." She touched her head to the stone and kissed two fingers before laying it on the stone. She gave it one last long glance and then stood up, hands in her pockets.

I decided to come out of hiding and come to her. She noticed me after I'd taken two steps.

"Rex. You followed me?" she asked, looking surprised.

"Please don't be angry. I—we—were worried." Her expression smoothened out until it was a calm smile.

"That's sweet. But I'm sure Zane probably inadvertently put the idea in your mind. I'm going to kick his butt. I assume you heard everything I said."

"Yeah. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have eavesdropped." She shrugged.

"Yeah, you shouldn't have. But what can we do about it now?"

"You're mad, aren't you?"

"Mad? No. Just...feeling a bit strange. At least Kent's getting to meet you...sort of."

"Should I say hi?"

"If you want."

"Hi, Kent," I said to the stone. "I'll take care of your sister, I promise." She sighed.

"What did you want, Rex? Were you really just curious?"

"Well, yeah." I looked down, feeling rather guilty even though she said she wasn't vexed. "I heard you were going to remove your tattoo."

"Yeah. What about it?" I brought my gaze back to her. Her facial expression hadn't changed.

"I know it has nothing to do with me but I don't want you to do it. I think it's a part of you and you should treasure it. Coping doesn't mean forgetting."

"And the tags? What should I do with those?"

"I think you should keep them. I think maybe Kent would have wanted you to have them had he died naturally. I mean you did win them fair and square."

"Actually, it was a tie. He gave them to me anyway and let me keep my chocolate bar. He was an idiot."

"I don't think he wants you to feel his pain. I think he'd rather you never have to experience it. And I also think there's nothing wrong with you so you don't have to change. But I'll love you regardless."

"You're right. It _does_ have nothing to do with you." I looked down at the ground again, that ashamed and burning feeling returning. "But, you're right. Moving on doesn't mean forgetting. He wouldn't want me to feel pain. He wasn't the kind of person to bring people down with him. He was admirable. I'm glad you're here. Divine intervention maybe." She turned around and grabbed the tags off the stone. "Sorry, Kent. I changed my mind. You shouldn't have given them to me so easily. I'll keep the tattoo, too. It looks really awesome anyway. Later, Kent. See you next year, or maybe sooner." She took the few steps down to meet me and she took both of my hands and reached up to kiss me. I wanted to hold her to me and tell her to let go of every wall in her heart and just cry on my shoulder. She broke away from the kiss after a few short seconds. She pressed the tags into my palm. "Hold on to these for me. You don't have to wear them, just hold onto them." I didn't dare object. She took my other hand and we walked away from the grave.

"Hey, was it okay to kiss me so close to his grave like that? Maybe we should apologise."

"Talking to graves is a stupid thing to do. I don't know why I do it. And I certainly don't think we have anything to be sorry for. _Mary Jane_ and _Peter Parker_ weren't sorry for it in the first movie."

"You like _Spiderman_?"

"Nope. _DC_ all the way, baby. _Marvel_ only has a handful of comics I consider worthy, and _Spiderman_ isn't one of them." I chuckled.

"Okay then. So where to?"

"Home. I'll tell you all about Kent if you want."

"I'd like that a lot." I put my arm around her and we walked back to Providence.

**Let all my DC fans holla!**


	19. Chapter 19

~o~

When we got back, Noah, Bobo and Circe were talking in the cafeteria waiting for us to come back. A few seconds after we walked in, Six and Holiday came.

"So, there you are. You never said where you were going for the day," Doctor Holiday said.

"I wasn't planning to tell, either. Rex made me change my mind. About everything. I was gonna laser my tattoo and all. He figured I'd look hotter with it."

"That's not what I said," I stated.

"You were probably thinking about it somewhere deep inside."

"Laser removals are painful," Holiday stated.

"I know. Speaking from experience, Holi?"

"No. I'm a doctor. Doctors know things."

"So, since you changed your mind, where _did_ you go?" Six questioned.

"I went to my brother's grave site, like I do every year on my birthday."

"It's your birthday today? Happy—or should I not?" Holiday responded.

"It's fine. Whatever. I might have something good to celebrate this year."

"Then happy birthday, Nina. You're sixteen, aren't you?"

"Sadly. I wish I could have stayed forever four. Kent was around, always protecting me. Time to do anything I wanted. No rules and everyone thought I was cute."

"But you'd never have met Rex," she pointed out.

"Or me," Circe interjected. Nina's head bobbed to either side.

"True. So I agreed to tell Rex all about my brother, Kent. Who's up for story time?"

"Me!" Noah, Circe and Bobo admitted. Six and Holiday had been silent but she turned to them anyway and said, "Pull a chair."

Nina and I sat opposite each other at the heads of the table. She looked around at the six pairs of eyes trained on her and exhaled.

"So we all know that I grew up in an orphanage a few miles from Florida and I met Kent when he stopped me from fighting over a toy with a kid and we became close after that. When he was eighteen, he fought to take me with him when he had to leave. I don't exactly know how he got to keep me, but we left and became nomads. A few days after, we ended up with a truck. I don't know how we got it but I didn't ask questions. Kent probably was a criminal but he was a damn good brother. I owe him my life and my everything.

"He was the one who taught me all my trademark illicit skills: gambling, fighting, lock picking, cursing probably. He probably made me a dry, blunt pervert, too. He was a delinquent, really, and a really bad influence but at the time I didn't notice any of that. He was all I had and I loved him because he made me feel happy and safe. A year before we moved out of the orphanage, I realised my powers. I was so scared but he told me it would be alright. He always made sure to celebrate birthdays. We started off not having much money but he always scraped up enough to get me something. He suggested that I grow my hair like a samurai and that's why I started growing it out. He got me interested in cars, anime, rock music and so on.

"He always had these odd jobs. Every morning he'd kiss my forehead and tell me, 'Jenna, I'm going to work. Be back later'. I'd ignore him and go back to sleep. During the day, I'd go to libraries and read lots of books since I couldn't go to school. He would come home and teach me, too. I had almost a complete college education by the time I was eleven. I never knew what his jobs were exactly. I never asked. He never told. He would just come back with cash and cook for us and stay up with me till we went to sleep at ten. We stayed at motels a lot but when there was no room, we would wait till people were asleep, climb up onto their roofs and look at the stars until we fell asleep. We had to get up super early to get down though. Each time that happened, he told me how sorry he was. I never thought he had to be sorry. It was the wildest adventure for me.

"After a lot of moving around, we came to Circe's home town and Kent promised that we'd try to set up a permanent home. I was ten at the time. He got the bright, stupid idea that since we weren't related by blood, we should get matching tattoos to connect us. We both got the same one with each other's names written very tiny under one of the eagle's wings. It hurt a lot. He told me that we'd go for pizzas and eat all we wanted afterwards. He promised that he'd always be there so nothing would ever hurt me like that again. When I say it out loud though, I realise that he was a jackass." She rolled her eyes like he was there with us.

"I remember him taking me bra shopping one time. He kept asking which ones would suit him. It made it seem less awkward. He instantly became infatuated with one of the salesgirls. He used to meet with her, though not date her, and he fell in love with her. He told me romantic love felt so magical that it made you high. He taught me to believe in love, to stay away from drugs, to only talk to nice strangers and alcohol is okay in moderation. He used to use a see-for-yourself method for that one. He smoked once with me around so I could learn to hate cigarettes. He had me shot tequila to learn that the stuff isn't so hot. I also learnt that I'm a lightweight that day. I was tipsy after two shots. Then he gave me a glass of sweet wine the next day to teach me if I had to drink to drink selectively. Anyway, that girl never took much notice of him. I could tell his heart was breaking and I encouraged him to stop seeing her. I don't think he ever stopped being in love with her, though.

"The Event changed everything. He gained the power of telekinesis. It made me feel even more comfortable with him. We were sitting on Avis Bay on my eleventh birthday when Van Kleiss approached us. He said he could use us and that we could help start a revolution. He said he could give us a stable home and work and money like we'd never seen before. Clearly he didn't know that we only _lived_ modestly at that point. Kent had a big bank account back then. Kent was thrilled with the idea of a revolution and a stable home and good paying work but he expressed his concerns about Van Kleiss' character. Despite it, he wanted to go. It was the first serious argument we'd ever had. He said he was going. I said I wasn't going with him. He looked devastated but he withdrew all his money, gave me half and left with the other half.

"Being a nomad, I did what nomads do. Ignore their feelings, hide everything, travel, yadda, yadda, yadda. Circe was the only thing keeping me near that town. But two years later, Van Kleiss approached her and she started considering, too. We fought. Violently. She left just the same way. I travelled far away from that town. Next town I started working on becoming a more mature person. Kids didn't get by easily as lone nomads. I changed my look a bit and started fighting EVOs on my own, gambling for my keep, doing odd jobs. I met Zane a few months before Circe left and I came to find out that they're second cousins but Kent's parents were nowhere to be found and no one else in the family had wanted him. They resemble a lot. After Circe left, Zane and I became closer. I tried not to get too close because I'd leave and he'd probably leave but I failed.

"I moved around as usual but stayed close to the area. On my thirteenth birthday, a few months before I met Zane and before Circe left, Kent appeared where I was sleeping and he woke me up to tell me he was sorry for leaving me and that he was leaving Van Kleiss to come back to him. He told me a bit about his time there. I was really sleepy and didn't pay much attention. He brought all his things and his money and went back to tell them he was leaving. I saw the vision of Van Kleiss sucking out his nanites and Breech dropping off his solidified form in a park mere seconds before it happened. I used the money to pay someone to bury him. A year later, I put up a headstone.

"Circe left months later, Zane and I became closer friends and over the next few years, we became even closer friends. I learnt to enjoy every day. My birthday came to mean only the death anniversary and the deserting of my brother. He was stupid and petty and ridiculous, but I loved him. He was criminal and quite often secretive about what he did and where the money came from but he was a good brother and always made sure I was provided for, even till the day he left and the day he died. He was a good guy. Mostly. But it's only because of him that I'm here, so I'm glad. So now you know, and you know what I've been doing for my birthday these past years."

"Thank God _someone_ got an explanation. I'm sure you would have neglected to tell me all of this," a voice called from a distance. We had all been so focused on her story that we hadn't noticed when Zane had come in and stopped some feet behind her. She turned and smiled.

"Hey, Zane. You heard all of that, right?"

"Honey, I've been here since you sighed and started your little story. You're such a good storyteller though. Tell us another."

"I'm all storied out. Nothing else to tell about my life."

"Nonsense. I've gotten glimpses here and there. There has been lots in your life."

"Nothing comes to mind."

"By the way, hello, everybody. Ooh, a chimp."

"Ooh, a human," Bobo rebutted.

"Hey, is he for sale?"

"Shut up, Zane. No, he's not. He's hurt he wasn't invited to your ball."

"My stalkers only told me about Holi, Six, Rexy and you."

"Then they didn't do a very good job."

"I know. Why pay people to do a job you can do better? It's so sad. And I wasn't even aware you were still in contact with Circe. If I was, I'd have sent her and invitation. If she didn't have a date, I would have volunteered."

"You know it makes you look creepy that you're twenty-three and we're both sixteen, right?"

"Love knows no age, love."

"Jail knows age. We're jailbait." He laughed and came closer to put his hands on her shoulders.

"So who do we have here that I don't know. Let me see if I remember from my vision." His hand touched his nose bridge briefly. "You're Noah. The chimp is Bobo. Hm, that's about all. I see Six and the _lovely_ Doctor Holiday are here. Tell me, Doctor, what is your first name? I'd like to get a lot closer with—" She reached behind to him and pinched a spot on his hand that made him wheeze.

"Didn't I tell you Holi's too nice for you? Stop flirting." He rubbed his hand.

"I can't. I'll die."

"She's taken."

"By whom?"

"You really are dumb to play dumb with me, you know. Why'd you come? How did you get in here in the first place?"

"Well, I walked straight up to the guards and asked to see White. I introduced myself and explained that this visit had nothing to do with you but that I wanted to see you. After some...conversation he let me through and two lovely guards brought me here." His face became more serious and he gave her shoulder a tight squeeze. "Actually, I came to warn you. I saw Van Kleiss planning another attack. They were still deciding between today and tomorrow. They were leaning towards today. I came to tell you not to lose."

"For you to say something like that, you must have seen something serious," Nina responded.

"Naturally, I can't tell you any more than that. But I will tell you this, Nina. This time, if you lose, you die. You specifically. They're coming with a vengeance. There's less of them, but they have a planned strategy. Kleiss wants to get rid of you first for capturing Circe like that. He thinks you're a threat." Nina laughed darkly.

"He has no freaking idea."


	20. Chapter 20

~o~

Zane had left not long after that and Six and Holiday went probably to talk it over with White or whatever. Nina sent Noah home, telling him that he needed to be out of danger and that she would have me call him when the danger was through. She tried to look calm but I could tell underneath it all she was worried. She was tapping a pen on a table nervously while she sat and her forehead was beginning to wrinkle a little.

"Nina," I said, trying to stop her. The tapping stopped and she gave me a sorry glance.

"Ugh, I can't see anything! I feel like we'll be fighting blind."

"What are you so worried about? We kicked Van Kleiss' butt before, we can do it again. And this time, Circe's on our side."

"I don't know, guys. I don't think I'm ready to fight the people I once considered my family just yet," Circe objected.

"Double-crossing people is easy," Nina said. She was definitely tense if she was saying something like that.

"You hate traitors. Why would you say something like that?" she responded.

"I don't know. I—"

"Chill out. Stop being so tense. Everything will be fine. I promise," I replied. She took a breath and closed her eyes for two seconds.

"You're right. Whatever happens is supposed to happen, right? And we're the good guys so we always win, right? How unrealistic but it should happen, right?"

"You're afraid that you're going to get killed, aren't ya?" Bobo asked.

"I am not afraid of death. I walked straight into it once before. Why would now be any different?"

"Because back then you didn't have Rex." She threw the monkey a sharp look.

"Shut up. No, wait, don't shut up. You're right. Oh, damn, I need to calm down. I'll be right back." She flashed out of the room, leaving just the three of us alone.

"You gotta protect her, chief. You can't let her die," he lectured.

"I know, Bobo. But she wouldn't want me to. She would want me to fight without worrying every second if she's alright. I know I can't be distracted either." We sat in silence for a long time and then she burst through the door in her usual clothes.

"On the roof. We should meet them on the roof and intercept," she said. She ran back out.

"She never really took stress well. What was Zane trying to do to her?" Circe said.

"I don't think it was intentional. I bet he thought he was doing a good thing by warning us."

There wasn't much to say after that. I went to my room, listened to some music and wondered if Nina _had_ seen something that had made her so nervous. When I walked into Holiday's office, she was at the glass. I came to join her and I could see Nina running around.

"What is she doing?" I asked.

"Trying to calm down, I think. She has a really anxious expression on her face. I've never seen her so tense ever."

"Me either. Bobo thinks she's afraid of dying, of losing me."

"But Zane said she'd only die if she lost. Nina couldn't possibly lose, right?"

"I'd like to be reassured of that, too, Doc. The truth is we'll never know. I think she saw something that scared her and she's not telling us."

"Well, we'll know soon enough. Our scanners are picking up some activity from Abysus. I think they're getting ready to make their move." Nina sat in one spot in Indian style and closed her eyes. Her lips were moving very slightly. I couldn't tell if she was singing, chanting or praying.

"Doesn't she know that's dangerous?" I said. I was surprised something hadn't taken advantage of her unaware state. She was sitting pretty close to Blinky and he was just standing there with a few eyes on her. He didn't even look like he was about to attack. She curled up, drawing up her knees and resting her arms on them, ducking her head down.

Doctor Holiday and I just stood there for a half hour and she didn't move.

"Maybe she's asleep?" she said.

"Should I go check?"

"No, Rex. I think you might only make her more nervous. She needs some time to find her own calm."

"Oh, alright. I just can't stand to see her like this."

"You're going to have to learn to deal with it, Rex. You can't help everyone, just like you can't save everyone. Some things people just need to deal with themselves."

"But I know one way I could calm her down."

"Kissing her might only remind her how much she has to lose."

"How did you—"

"You're obvious, Rex."

"She doesn't think so."

"She loves you. She wouldn't think so. She's not the type to like boring things."

"She likes classical music."

"That's not boring, Rex. That's very high-classed. You should try it sometime."

"She's trying to encourage me. I told her I'd think about it."

"It's supposed to stimulate your brain. You really should listen to it."

"Hey!" She laughed.

"Sorry, Rex. I think we've all spent too much time around her. I really can't believe her brother made her shot tequila though."

"Hey, she learnt her lesson. No better method than learning by example, right?"

"She's a good kid. Her brother was a bit unorthodox but I believe he was a good person, too. You told her to keep her tattoo, right? Did you follow her?"

"Yeah. As she was leaving, I came out from my hiding spot and we talked. She wasn't mad. She listened to what I had to say. She said I changed her mind. Maybe we should throw her a party." Six walked in.

"You guys having pizza?" he asked.

"Pizza?" we asked together.

"Nina ordered and paid for thirty large boxes of pizza for everyone here. Even for White. I think she's throwing herself a party."

"But she's down there." I threw a thumb over my shoulder.

"No, she's not." We turned and looked and Nina was gone.

"Oh, okay. Lunch then!"

Nina seemed utterly back to normal. She ate like five slices of pizza and she had even gone for Noah and Zane. Zane put a plastic tiara on her and then started singing 'Sweet Dreams' by the_ Eurythmics_. It was hilarious. He walked around the room like a real diva. He climbed up on the table and started taking off his jacket and putting it back on, acting like a real drag queen. I nearly fell on the floor laughing. He was singing really well, but his acting was just over the top. Everyone cheered and laughed at the end. Nina stole his fedora after the song.

"I'd make you sing, Rex, but I seem to avoid being wicked to you, so you get away this time," she said to me, laughing.

"Thank goodness. I always wondered why you never made fun of me."

"I must really like you a lot. That or feel sorry for you."

"Yeah, let's go with the former and not the latter." She laughed and gave a brief hug. After about two hours of hanging around with everyone, Nina thanked everyone for celebrating with her and they helped clean up before returning to their respective posts. Six was almost giving a smile when he and Holiday came over.

"Happy birthday, Nina," Holiday said, receiving her for a hug.

"Happy birthday, Nina. I hope you're with us for many more," Six said.

"I hope so, too. This was fun. Can I get a hug?" Sis allowed her to hug him and loosely hugged back and then she returned to her seat on the table. "Maybe next time we can get Zane to do a whole medley. Now that will be a hilarious. He's such a wannabe drag when he wants to be. Anyway, do you see how much time he's spending around Circe? I think he's trying to start something."

"I can't believe he's twenty-three. He doesn't look a day over eighteen," Holiday said.

"He's looked that way these past _four_ years that I've known him." Zane walked over to us with Circe.

"You're talking about me, right? I know you are. I'm so glamorous," he said, striking a pose. Nina burst into laughter and Holiday gave a small laugh.

"More like you're so ridiculous," she responded.

"You're so mean. Anyway, happy birthday, Nina." He gave her a hug. "Next year we'll go clubbing and maybe we can have a repeat of last time we went clubbing."

"Not gonna happen, Zane," she said really quickly.

"When did you go clubbing and what happened?" Circe asked for us all.

"Well," Zane began. Nina's hand flew over his mouth.

"Go ahead and lick or bite all you want," Nina warned. He bit anyway and she moved her hand anyway and rubbed the spot. "Damn, your teeth are sharp."

"We went clubbing December last year. The DJ played a lot of good music. I had no idea Nina could dance like that," Zane finished, smirking. Nina rolled her eyes.

"They don't call those places 'trance' for nothing. I swear I was another person that night."

"Sure. I just think that was the freak coming out."

"_Who_ has an inner freak?"

"I didn't think that was possible. If Nina gets any freakier..."Circe began, "...that might be shocking." Zane raised his eyebrows challengingly and Nina hit him.

"I think you spiked my Coke," Nina said.

"I'm a stalker, not a rapist, Nina."

"Who knows? You're apparently a lolicon, too, since you're so interested in Circe over there."

"Lolicon? Now that's just mean."

"Just remember that's illegal."

"It's only illegal if I'm fu—"

"Zane," she said warningly.

"Oh, _gomen_. I mean, it's only illegal if things get too physical before she's eighteen."

"Only you would use that as a justification to yourself." Circe just stood there blushing and quiet. "Now shut up about things from the adult world. You're making her uncomfortable and there are kids here, including me."

"If kids cursed like you do, the world would be a mess. And anyway, you're already far into the adult world. Don't think I didn't see you sticking your tongue down Rex's throat at my party. Pictures are up on the Net." Nina gave a horrified look to my surprised one and hit him four times on the arm.

"I did _no_ such thing. Lies and slander!"

"Oh, please, honey, you think I don't know what a French kiss looks like when I see one? I took that picture myself."

"Your eyes are bad and the camera adds ten pounds."

"That doesn't say one thing. Shall I ask Rex?" He turned his attention to me and I instantly felt like I was being interrogated. "Don't lie to me now."

"She really didn't. I didn't either. It was just a normal kiss." He stared at me for a long moment and then looked away.

"Alright, fine then. But I wonder when you're going to do it anyway. You know basically how it goes," he said to her.

"Shut up and go home, Zane. I will not be French kissing anyone."

"Liar. Tell me when you do, though. I want to know all the dirty details." She started to protest but he cut her off. "Bye, Nina. Catch you later." He turned and started to walk away and she threw a coin behind his head. "I love you, too!" he shouted back, still walking.

"He is such an idiot," she said, smiling and rolling her eyes. "Yeah, like I said, ignore him. He's a pathological liar intent on starting trouble."

"So you _can't_ French kiss?" I asked, smirking. She looked back at me smugly.

"I never said _that_. Anyway, I'm going to go clean my gun in preparation for the Abysus maggot garbage coming to attack later. I don't want it misfiring or anything." She hopped down off the table and walked away.

"Are conversations between them always this lewd?" Holiday asked, trying to hide a smile.

"Seems so," I answered. "It is funny though. Funny until it becomes about me. Let's get out of here." We all headed out of the room and then I remembered something. "Hey, Six, what's a lolicon?" Holiday burst into laughter.


	21. Chapter 21

~o~

I could see their monster blimp approaching from the evening sky and I felt the adrenaline starting to pump through my system. Assuming they didn't get recruitments already, we only had to deal with Breech, Skalamander, Biowulf, the two creepy things that joined to form one and Van Kleiss himself. Thank goodness the monster blimp didn't fight.

Nina was standing a few feet in front of me and Six was off to my left a little. Six soldiers were behind us and Circe was off to Six's left with Bobo between them. We had worked out a bit of a strategy that involved her being in the front line to make the first move and possibly disorient and provoke them. Circe was still collared. Nina had tried to convince us to deactivate the collar but Six still objected since we couldn't be sure of her loyalties yet. She decided that maybe we could use her to stir their tempers instead. She would take Breech, Van Kleiss was mine, Biowulf would have to try to handle Six and the soldiers would split into threes and get the creepy pair while Bobo got Skalamander.

As the blimp came closer, we noticed the aforementioned six were standing on the top of the monster blimp. I hoped for a second one of them would fall off. It was just wishful thinking.

"Oh, a welcome party? Or have you come to join us?" Van Kleiss asked with that creepy smile of his. Nina laughed scandalously.

"Not in your wettest, wildest dreams, Van Creepy," she retorted. I laughed.

"Good one," I commended. She turned back and winked at me.

"Kent might have neglected to tell you I see the future. I've already seen us hog tying you and throwing you in the dirtiest cell we have. Want to retreat?" she added. Van Kleiss gave a creepy, evil laugh.

"Not in _your_ wettest, wildest dreams. It's a pity we have to kill you, though, you would have been so useful."

"Sorry, I don't work with scum." She flung five 'gas shells' at them, creating a thick smoke fog. "Remember their formation! Go, go, go!" she directed. While everyone else moved, she kissed two fingers and pointed them in my direction, directing me and endearing me all at the same time. I moved. She took aim and we all moved to where our intended targets would probably land. When the fog cleared, I noticed the monster blimp was falling. One of those smoke bombs wasn't a smoke bomb apparently. I noticed when Breech flung a portal at her but in a super fast, fluid movement, Nina made her way past it and hit Breech in the stomach with the barrel of the gun. I smiled. It was awesome watching her fight.

"Now, now, Rex, you don't have time to be looking elsewhere," Van Kleiss said, approaching me.

"You're nothing, Van Kleiss. Watching her fight is more entertaining anyway."

"I would love to watch her if you think it's so great. Hm, with praise like that she must be your girlfriend, am I right?"

"And I'm proud to admit it."

"In that case, I'll enjoy taking her away from you even more."

That flipped the switch. I brought out the BFS and charged after him. He quickly moved out of the way and just as I flew off the building, I brought out the Boogie Pack and flew back onto the building.

"Focus, Rex. Don't make this too easy now," he goaded.

"Easy? No way. No worries there." The fights were well dispersed to avoid any friendly fire. Van Kleiss was attacking fiercely, pushing me back. My back hit someone else. I turned to see Nina giving me a smile.

"How convenient. You'll have to stop messing around now and fight seriously," Van Kleiss.

"Messing around?" Nina asked. "That's not messing around."

"This is messing around," I said, finishing one of my trademark sayings. Nina and I in a split second changed positions and she came at him with the barrel of her gun while I took Breech. She was surprised and I managed to push her back with my continuous attacks. With any luck, this fight would be over soon. Biowulf and Skalamander had already fallen. Six and Bobo were helping with eyeballs one and two.

"Shiny, Rex. I won't let you get away with wrecking my precious things," Breech said, a crazed look in her eye.

"Take your best shot." It took all I had to dodge her portals that would send me to who knows where. I rushed her with a lot of energy and she tried using her large hands to block but kept retreating. I wasn't going to give her the chance to escape either. It needed to end. We needed to capture them and find some peace. I gave her a hard smack with the Smack Hands and she rolled away, apparently unconscious. Just then I saw eyeballs one and two fall.

I turned and saw Nina on the floor behind Van Kleiss and he was walking towards me.

"Rex, letting your girlfriend fight your battles for you is dishonourable. That was too easy," he said, shaking his head. Nina got up and I saw her fiddle with a round object. I smiled.

"Let her fight my battles? You don't seem to get it. I was just telling you that you suck so badly that a girl easily could take you." Nina flashed behind him and planted the device on his back.

"Hey, Van Kleiss. You talk too much. Hasn't anyone ever told you to shut the hell up?" she said. "Rex! Circe's collar!" I ran and deactivated it and Circe aimed her sonic scream at him. Electricity began to flow through his body simultaneously, forcing a shout from him. He managed still to turn and give her a forceful elbow to the chest, sending her sprawling down back onto the floor. The electricity flowed through her while the contact remained but then she fell and a loud cry came from her. I waited for her to get up. She didn't. Van Kleiss fell to the ground and curled into a ball. The charge continued to run through his body but seconds later it stopped. He was already out.

"Nina!" I shouted to her and ran over, stooping down.

"Rex, something's wrong! It hurts when I try to get up!" I tried to get my hand behind her back and she gasped in pain. Something was behind her. I managed to get it out from under her despite a sharp and painful cry. Her rifle came from behind her, the side-scope broken and half of the object she'd been fiddling with was beneath it.

"Someone call Doctor Holiday! Nina's been hurt!" I shouted at them. Six touched the communicator in his ear. She ran up in half a minute.

"Move, Rex. I've got to examine her," she said, looking deadly concerned.

"It's her back, I think," I told her, moving away just a little. She slid her hands under her and I could just see the tears form and fall from Nina's eyes as her face contorted in pain. She was actually crying.

"Don't hurt her, Doc."

"I've got to know what's wrong. I think her spine is broken," she said, then turning to the crew who came in after her. "Bring the stretcher."

"No way? Her spine?" I shrieked, voice going up in pitch. She looked back at me.

"Did she fall on anything?"

"Yeah." I pointed to the pile of hard plastic inches away from her. She hissed.

"That must have hurt. I'll have to operate."

"My tattoo," Nina barely breathed. Her fists were clenched tight and her eyes were barely open. I touched her hand and wrapped mine around her fist.

"Don't worry about something like that, Nina. Just stay with me," I begged.

"I should have actually kissed you before the battle. Sorry." I shook my head and I felt panic rising. It sounded like she was saying goodbye.

"Don't be sorry. I should have...I should have..." My sight started blurring. I couldn't cry. I had to show her she wasn't dying. "You are not allowed to die, Nina. Not until we're old and have been married for half a billion years." She half-cracked a smile.

"Why are we talking about marriage?" Her eyes fluttered closed and her head rolled to the side. I squeezed her fist.

"Nina? Nina! Nina, wake up!" The soldiers got her on the stretcher.

"Let go of her hand, Rex," Holiday said.

"No. I have to be there for her." Six came and yanked me away from behind unexpectedly and then the soldiers took off with her back into the building, Holiday rushing after them.

"Let them do their job, Rex. Nina needs them to help her," he said.

"I broke my promise, Six. I told her everything would be alright and it wasn't. I didn't protect her, Six. I failed." My tears started to fall and I wished it was me instead of her. Six pulled me to his chest unexpectedly and I wasn't strong enough to pull away.

"She didn't want your protection. All she wanted was your love, Rex."

"She has it so she can't die."

"Nobody's going to die, Rex."

"She'd probably try to punch the Grim Reaper," Circe said, her own tears so obvious and visible, and trying to chuckle. "She won't go without one hell of a fight." I pulled away from Six to face her.

"I hope so. In the meanwhile, we should get _them_ in captivity." Soldiers were already securing collars on them.

"I guess you're on our side now," Six said to Circe.

"I guess I am." I looked down. I felt useless. She couldn't depend on me to be there for her when she needed me the most. She couldn't depend on me to save her life. Bobo walked over.

"It's not your fault, chief. Don't look like that," he said, his face looking sad, too.

"You told me to protect her. I didn't."

"It wasn't anything you could have avoided."

"If I hadn't let her take him, if I'd just not followed the plan..."

"We'd be toast and Van Kleiss would have gotten away."

"I should have—"

"Shut up, Rex. Leave this. What's done is done," Circe said.

"Let's go inside. I'm sure we'll all want to know how surgery goes and White's going to want to know what happened," Six said. We started going inside.


	22. Chapter 22

~o~

I was exhausted but my mind was buzzing like a bee. My feelings went from pain to guilt to uselessness to anger to self-loathing to sympathy to pain and back around again. I couldn't sleep. I dozed off for a few minutes but I awakened in a dizzying panic that nearly rendered me unconscious. Six came to tell me to sleep but I told him no. He stayed up with me.

"I reported to White. He says he'll do everything in his power to help her," Six said.

"He better had. We owe this big success to Nina. But, if you ask me, the price was still too high to pay."

"Sometimes sacrifices have to be made." I was about to start shouting at him when he put a hand up. "Let me finish. I didn't want anything to happen to her either. But she'll live and that's what matters. An injury is a small price to pay for the capture of Van Kleiss and the whole Pack. She's one of the best things that have ever happened to Providence besides you."

"She's done things I couldn't have. I think she _is_ the best thing that's ever happened to Providence."

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Rex. You've done some pretty amazing things, too. You're the only person on the Earth capable of healing EVOs. You've got one up on her with that one. The two of you as a team are ideal. Your teamwork is almost telepathically-inclined."

"I think it's just because we get each other so much. She'll be alright, won't she? Will she be paralysed?"

"That depends completely on the state of her spinal cord. I'll never know that until Doctor Holiday comes out with a verdict."

"They've been in there two hours already. How much longer do you think they'll go for?"

"I don't know."

"I'm dying here, Six. I need to see that she's still breathing. I need to know she's not in pain."

"They'll have her under anaesthesia. She shouldn't be feeling a thing."

"But I saw this movie once where this person was hearing everything which meant they were still mostly conscious. What if—"

"It was just a movie, Rex. Don't worry unnecessarily. She'd probably hit you for that."

"You like her, don't you, Six? She's so different. It's hard not to."

"She's a good kid, Rex. I'm rather fond of her myself." A silence passed.

"Hey, Six, what do you think about this whole me-and-Nina thing? I know Holiday thinks it's cute but I've never heard your opinion on it."

"Why should my opinion matter?"

"I just wanna know."

"I don't have much of an opinion on it. I recognise that you seem to be a good match for each other and I'm glad you get along so well. That's it."

"You don't think we're taking it too far after so soon?"

"I'm not entitled to think that, Rex. Only you can decide whether your relationship with her is too going too fast." I thought it over.

"Thanks, Six."

"You really should get some sleep, Rex."

"I can't sleep. I'm tired but I can't sleep. I'm too much in turmoil inside. And honestly, I don't want to sleep. I want to know the second Holiday gets out of the operating theatre."

"Rex—"

"Don't try to discourage me, Six. What would you do if someone you loved and cared for was in there?" He was silent. I went for my MP4 player and found hers sitting on my bed with a note saying '_Listen to the classicals on it. I swear you won't die. Mucho de amor, Nina._' on top of it. I picked it up and returned to where I was waiting, taking the opportunity to listen to it. There was only one album of classical music on it and it only went for an hour total with the nine songs on it. I pressed play and focused deeply on it.

The doors opened suddenly and jolted me awake. I hadn't even noticed myself falling asleep. Doctor Holiday came out looking rather tired but with a smile on her face. I sat straighter, removed the ear-buds from my ears and gathered the blanket that had been on me into a ball. Six was where he was before, sitting just a little away from me. We stood up at the same time.

"She's going to be okay. The surgery was successful," she declared, stripping off her gloves.

"Was her—Will she be able to walk?" I asked.

"Her spinal cord is fine. Miraculously it remained uninjured." She put her hand out and handed me her cell phone. "Keep her cell phone, Rex. If someone calls while she's asleep, I think you'll know which ones to ignore and which ones to answer."

"Not really."

"If it's Zane, answer. Anyone else is of no importance to us. He'll definitely want to know what happened."

"Right. Can I go see her, Doc?"

"She's unconscious and she's on her stomach."

"I just need to see her."

"Alright. Go on in."

I was a bit scared but I walked into the room slowly and saw her on the table. Her back was exposed and I could see the spot that had been stitched. It was the centre of her back, through the eagle's claws and the incision was four inches long. One of the assistants came and taped a piece of gauss over it. I could see her back moving as she breathed. She was alright but I needed to see her look at me, hear her voice. I needed to hold her and kiss her and tell her I was sorry that she got hurt. Six rested a hand on my shoulder. I hadn't even known when he'd come in.

"You should get some rest now, Rex. You need it. You don't want Nina to see you looking like crap when she wakes up, do you?"

"You're right. Goodnight, Six." I walked out of the room and said goodnight to Doctor Holiday and headed to Nina's room to put back her MP3 player. Circe was still awake.

"How is she? Is she out of surgery yet?" she asked.

"She's fine. Surgery was a success. She's still unconscious."

"That's great. Thank goodness. You off to bed?"

"Yeah. You should get some sleep, too."

"Yeah. 'Night, Rex."

"Goodnight, Circe." My head was grateful to hit my pillow. I fell asleep almost instantaneously.


	23. Chapter 23

~o~

Nina slept for two whole days. I kept nagging Doctor Holiday, asking her if she was really okay and if it was normal for her to be asleep that long. She told me different people react differently to different procedures but it was rather normal for someone to sleep that long after surgery. She also explained that since she had been fighting before the surgery, her body needed extra time to recuperate. She was exhausted and healing. She deserved extra rest. But I was getting to my wits end. I'd played cards with Bobo, hung out with Circe and Noah, trained with Six, nagged Doctor Holiday, listened to all my music and all hers, watched lots of TV, but I was still edgy. I needed _her_. No other distraction would work until I talked to her again.

I was heading to the cafeteria when Six and Zane came in.

"Oh, hey, Zane. You came to see her?" I asked.

"I came to hang around with you guys actually. You must be so tense. I was so shocked when I called and you told me what had happened. I hadn't seen a thing."

"She's been sleeping for two days."

"Six was telling me. That's rough. Well, maybe if you're lucky, you'll get to help her bathe when she gets the okay."

"Not gonna happen. I think Circe'd get that job if Holiday doesn't do it. She'd hit you if she heard that."

"You're her boyfriend. You're going to have to see her—Oh, I can't say it. It's not fun without her here to abuse me into shutting up before I say anything colourful. In any case, you're going to have to marry her before that happens. She's serious about moral and religious issues. When I fall asleep in church, she hits me so hard that I wake up entirely. Anyway, grab the monkey and let's go play some cards. Agent Six, will you join us?"

"Not this time, Zane. I've got work to do. Keep Rex's company. Noah, Circe and Bobo are already in the cafeteria." He walked off, leaving me and Zane standing there. Zane smiled.

"Let's go," he said. We started walking.

"Zane, I don't know if I'm up to playing cards. I'm really anxious for her to wake up."

"Oh, come on, Rex. We'll play strip poker or something that will definitely keep you on guard."

"Oh, brother." He laughed.

Noah and I had lost our jackets and Bobo had lost his hat when Zane seemed to go distant for almost eight full seconds. He shook his head and looked at me.

"She's up," he declared.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yes. She just got up. I saw it. We should wait for the Doctor's okay, though." Two minutes later, Doctor Holiday came rushing in.

"She's awake finally. You guys can go in to see her," she said. I sprung out of the chair and ran out of the cafeteria.

"Thanks, Doc," I said as I passed her. The sound of footsteps behind me was an indication that the others were running after me. I met Six just outside the operating theatre. "Is she in there?"

"Yeah. She just woke up." Zane wasn't around.

"Where is Zane?"

"He's gathering up the cards so Bobo here doesn't cheat while we're away," Noah said, throwing a thumb at the monkey just at his feet.

"Hey, I don't appreciate that," Bobo whined.

"We should wait for him. We can all go in at once," I said. Zane walked in half a minute later and we all went into the theatre.

Nina's face lit up with a smile when she saw us walking in.

"Hey, guys," she said, voice a little thick from being asleep so long. "What are you all doing here? I had surgery, not a baby." She laughed.

"We were worried and wanted to see you," I replied.

"You look tense. How long have I been out?"

"Two days. Rex hasn't been much fun because of it. He was all anxious and lonely without you," Noah answered.

"How do you feel?" Circe asked.

"That depends. Do we have Van Creepy and his Cirque du So Fail in custody?"

"Yup," she answered. "But didn't you say you saw that happen in your vision?"

"Then I feel like a rock star. Well, a rock star that had to use nanite solution to brush her teeth but a rock star nonetheless. As for the vision," she chuckled, "I was bluffing." Circe's forehead wrinkled then loosened.

"We're just glad you're okay. Do you remember what happened?" she asked her.

"Yeah, pretty much. I remember Rex telling me that I wasn't allowed to die and some other stuff and then I blacked out. Oh, freak. My scope is broken, isn't it?" she said, looking worried.

"Yup," I answered.

"Damn it! How am I supposed to get that replaced? I got that rifle from a guy from three states over!"

"I think we can arrange something for you. You need to rest. You sustained quite an injury and in a very delicate spot, too. You'll have to avoid moving your back too much," Zane pitched in. "Rex was just telling me how much he would love to help you shower."

"Hey!" I objected.

"You want to know what I think? I think you were just telling him to capitalise on the opportunity and he went red like sweet potato," she said.

"He was thinking it," Zane insisted.

"No, Zane. Only you think of these things right away."

"So do you."

"Because I can't lose to you."

"Inner freak that comes out when clubbing."

"You're lucky I was told to be careful. Damn, my tattoo is going to get messed up. Oh, God, save me, that was the most embarrassing way to get hurt. I fell on my _own_ equipment. Damn, I feel so retarded."

"That's why I brought this," Zane got a bottle of what sounded like tablets from his pocket. "As for the shame, that _was_ pretty stupid."

"Zane, you can't smuggle drugs into _Providence_. I won't allow it."

"Shut up. It's to help with the healing. It accelerates it and ensures a smoother heal. It might just eliminate your scarring altogether. It got rid of mine after the sex change." Everyone turned and watched Zane strangely and Nina burst into laughter at the whole scene. Zane had on a straight expression of his face. He turned and saw Circe eyeing him. "What? Did you think I was always this beautiful?"

"One day, someone is going to believe you," Nina said.

"And when that day comes, I hope you'll be there to bail me out of jail."

"I'd probably leave you there for a day to torture you and tell you not to drop the soap."

"I thought you'd be nicer and more grateful for life after that encounter."

"I am. _You're_ still the same jackass you were before my spine snapped."

"Hey, jackass is the spice of life. I have to go. Work calls. I have to go visit my boutique where you got that gorgeous dress from. I'll see you later. Ciao." He kissed her forehead and turned to leave.

"Bye, Zane. Call Circe, okay?" After he walked off, she looked at Circe. "If he calls you, pretend to be a Mexican gas station and hang up. He deserves it for not being outright with you."

"What do you mean?" Circe asked.

"Remember his party I took you to and you were drunk and he tried to kiss you? He doesn't kiss girls he doesn't like."

"Has he ever tried to kiss you?"

"Maybe, maybe not. Anyway, anything juicy happen while I was out cold?"

"Not really. Mostly I've been bored stiff. I listened to all your music even," I told her.

"Bobo, is he lying?" she asked.

"Nope. He's been out of it since you went out cold. He didn't go to sleep until Doc told him that you were going to be okay."

"Darn. Guess I _am_ the life of this party. I'll try to get better soon."

"Yeah. Please do. We don't know what we'd do without you," I said, looking at her and just glad that she was finally talking to me again.

Noah made a gesture that I picked up in my peripheral vision.

"Um, guys, Circe, Bobo and I have got to go do some stuff. We'll catch you later. Hope you feel better, Nina. Later," he said. The other two said goodbye and walked out with him. She raised an eyebrow.

"I wonder what that was about," I said.

"They're trying to give you some privacy. I'll do the same. Nice to see you're okay, Nina," Six said.

"Thanks, Six. It's great to see you." He walked out, leaving the two of us alone. I took two steps to come closer to her.

"I don't know if I should kiss you or not," I admitted.

"I'd love a kiss. That's so sweet how you waited for me to get out of surgery. You came to see me everyday, too, didn't you?"

"Yeah."

"I could feel you there. I wanted to wake up and see you."

"Nina, I'm so sorry. If should have watched out for you. I shouldn't have let you—"

"Rex, I've never thrown profanities at you. Don't make me start now."

"But—"

"Rex, none of this is your fault. Actually, thanks to you, I'm still alive. Van Kleiss wanted to fight you so badly he neglected to give me the finishing blow. And I would have been fine, had I gotten my things out of the way. It was too serendipitous that my own things would have been in the right place to hurt me. But, hey, everything happens for a reason, right?"

"I still feel bad, like I could have done something."

"You can do something for me now."

"Anything."

"Shut the hell up and come kiss me." I didn't need any more encouragement.

I took a seat on the side of her bed and leaned in to kiss her. Her hand came up to beneath my chin and she pulled me to her roughly, taking my lips with hers with the same voracity. Her fingers were holding on to my jaw tightly so that it hurt but feeling her lips on mine made the pain seem unimportant. I felt everything coming back into order again. The long kiss ended and she started giving smaller kisses, turning her head left and right as she kissed me.

"Nina," I breathed as the pressure of her fingers was getting more apparent. Like reading my mind, her hand dropped to my leg and I put both of my hands on either sides of her neck and kissed her again. I followed her lead from before and even when my breath thinned I wouldn't stop. I needed it and I was fulfilling her request. I convinced myself to stop before we both passed out and her eyes gleamed as she caught her breath and I retrieved mine. She smiled.

"If only I didn't need air..." she said.

"Yeah, I know, right."

"I'm really happy to have you, Rex. You're so sweet. But I should hit you for worrying unnecessarily. I won't die that easily. No need to start talking about scary things like marriage."

"Why is that scary? Don't you want to get married?"

"Sure. But as usual, marriages don't seem to last like they used to."

"Ours might. Have a little faith."

"Now there's something I can have. But we can suspend this conversation until after we're both eighteen."

"Alright." I rested my forehead against hers and she was breathing deeply.

"Mmm, you smell so nice. I missed your scent. I can't wait to get back into a shower and my normal clothes and normal use of my back. Then it's you, me and a wall." I chuckled.

"I think _there's_ a little of the freak that Zane was talking about."

"Too much?"

"Nope. Just fine." Doctor Holiday walked in—I could tell by the sound of her shoes which Nina had taught me—but she didn't say anything at first. I broke away from her first and turned.

"Hey, Holi. Thanks for the awesome job. Can I go have a shower now?" Nina asked.

"Not a chance. You'll be sponge bathing for a while. You can't get those stitches wet for two weeks minimum."

"Zane gave me a wonder drug to accelerate and smoothen out healing. What do you think?"

"Let me see." Nina handed her the bottle and after quick reading of the label, gave it back. "Lots of natural stuff. I suppose we can see if any of it helps, unless you're allergic to any of the ingredients."

"I'm not allergic to anything."

"Well, give it a try. You might be able to shower though if you were extra careful and if someone else got to your back. I'll ask Circe. I was just coming to check on your stitches. Rex you're going to need to leave the room now."

"Oh, alright." I kissed Nina's forehead but she took my face with one hand and kissed me briefly for a couple of seconds. "Later, Nina. I'll come check in on you every opportunity I get."

"No, Rex. Get a life. I'll see you later."

"Bye, Holiday," I said, heading out. She said a goodbye and I distinctly noticed the tight feeling had lifted. Nina was okay and she'd be back to normal soon. That was all I needed in the world at that point to make me a happy guy.


	24. Chapter 24

**Twenty-four chapters? O.O Sorry, it's so long, everyone! Unless you're enjoying it. Then I'm not sorry. If you are enjoying it, I'd like to know, please ****.**

~o~

I visited Nina everyday for the week and she was struggling trying to stay in one place. She wasn't allowed to get out of bed for fear of straining her back and tearing her stitches and she wasn't used to sitting still for too long. She liked to move around. She said she could almost feel her life slipping away as she sat there and did practically nothing. I tried to make sure that she wasn't doing nothing exactly. Every time I visited her, we ended up in one of our usual make out sessions. Most times we didn't get caught. Occasionally, Doctor Holiday would come in and kick me out to check her. We thought she was planning the interruption on purpose, either she was enjoying kicking me out or she really wanted to make sure that the stitches didn't move and would heal faster.

During the second week, Doctor Holiday allowed her out of bed to walk around a bit and shower. Circe helped to wash her back. Nina whined about how she hoped her tattoo was okay. I laughed because it was so childish. I told her I was just glad that she was okay. That led to us kissing again. And Doctor Holiday walking in and shooing me away. Zane visited a couple times and so did Noah. She enjoyed seeing them and went back to abusing Zane when he said colourful things. That Sunday, I was sleeping late again and I noticed that when I turned, my arm ended up draped over something warm and soft. My brain didn't process it but it was comfortable so I hugged it tighter.

A finger stroked my hand and my eyes shot open. Nina was lying next to me dressed in her usual clothes and staring up at the top of the bunk bed.

"Nina?" I asked.

"Nah, it's Jenna," she answered, turning her head towards me and smiling.

"Nina," I scolded.

"Just kidding. It's ten. Wake up."

"Ten more minutes."

"Shall I forcefully wake you up?"

"No, you should give me ten more minutes." She moved from under my hand and turned on her side and her hand touched the side of my neck. Her lips touched mine, moulding to fit but closed. It sent all my nerves on hyper alert and adrenaline and something else shot through me from my stomach. She drew away. "That did the trick."

"I knew it would. Now get up. Time to eat."

"Wait, how did you get on the side of the bed against the wall? You flashed in, didn't you?"

"You're a heavy sleeper. I climbed over you and you didn't so much as stir. I've been here nearly fifteen minutes." I smiled.

"That is not creepy at all."

"Oh, shut up. You weren't complaining just now when you were using me as a teddy bear."

"Speaking of which, you're in normal clothes. Does this mean Doc gave you the okay to resume normal activity?"

"Come join us for breakfast and I'll answer all of your questions."

I did the usual clean up routine and then headed to the cafeteria. She wasn't there but Zane, Noah, Bobo and Circe were and already eating.

"Hey, guys."

"Dude, you can sleep forever, can't you?" Noah asked. I shrugged. "Same here."

"Why are you guys all here?" I asked, specifically Zane and Noah.

"Nina called us and asked if we could come 'visit the cripple', as she put it. She told us to come have breakfast with you first," he answered.

"She just woke me up...sorta."

"Nina was in your room, was she? Good thing I brought those little rubber things she asked for," Zane said, grinning. "But I guess it wouldn't be the first time she's been there—"

One of Nina's infamous coins hit him in the head and we all turned to see her walking in. He grinned.

"Nina, my love, I was just saying how well I knew the pills would work—"

"You make another condom joke with my name in the same sentence or any reference to me and I swear I'll hang you upside down from Blinky and let him smash you all he wants," she replied with a frown. His grin widened.

"Blinky?"

"The tree in the Petting Zoo covered in eyes that likes to hit people. He's my favourite."

"I can see why. Reminds you of you, doesn't it? You missed me, didn't you?"

"No, I missed the stash of coins in my pants to hit you with."

"Anyway, you could _not_ have heard that comment. You just walked in. Shall I assume your telepathy is back?"

"Yup."

"It is?" I asked.

"Yeah. The teleportation is gone though. It sucks. I'd rather teleport than read minds. I can already tell what most people are thinking."

"Maybe it never left. Maybe it was just less obvious," I suggested. She shrugged.

"Maybe. I guess I really am Nina again. I'll miss being Jenna. It was more convenient."

"Again with the confusing pseudonyms. So how are we celebrating your recovery? Did it heal perfectly?" Zane asked.

"There's a little scar. As for celebrating, I think we should just go to the beach. Say...Avis Bay."

"It still scarred?" he asked, frowning.

"The incision was four inches long. The scar is one inch and barely noticeable at all. You have to look carefully for it. See?" She turned and after studying for a few seconds the spot where the eagle's feel were, I just noticed the thin line and dots on either side of it. "Isn't it cool? I think scars are novelty items. They say that you have a story to tell. My story is pretty embarrassing since it's my own gun that injured me, but, say what, it's a life lesson. Kent taught me life lessons by having me experience them firsthand. "

"It _is_ pretty cool. So, beach? Can I get out of my church clothes first? I see you already have." Zane said.

"Sure, but you have to walk."

"No need. My butler brought the car. He can drop us in the limo."

"Cool. Meet back in an hour. I have to go ask White if we can go. One of us should drive though."

"Gasp. You're asking for permission _first_? Who are you and what have you done with Nina?"

"Shut up. I am a professional first and foremost and thus must act accordingly."

"Big words. Yikes." She turned and headed back into the foyer.

"Noah, do you need a lift home to get packed?" Zane asked him.

"Yes, thanks," he replied.

"I'll come for you in an hour so we can meet back here." The two got up and headed out.

The beach was just as bright and calm as it had been many months ago when I'd first come here. It brought back all the memories of the last time and it brought to my attention how much I really cared about Nina. Everyone else was in the water except Nina who had spread a blanket and just sat, feeling the sun. I had gone in, too, for a little while but when I saw her there smiling at us, I gestured for her to come in but she just shook her head. I decided to come out and just join her. The sun was nice and warm, not too hot and the water was cool. As I came out, I tried not to seem like I was staring too much at her. She had been wearing a tee-shirt and shorts but the shirt was off now, revealing a flower-patterned black bikini top.

"Thank you for the compliment," she said just as I approached the blanket.

"What compliment?" I asked.

"The one about my boobs." I sat down and looked away.

"You've really got to stop doing that."

"Why? It's fun. Most of the time. I'm not offended by your staring anyway, unless it gets the point where you totally ignore me."

"I can't ignore you. You always say something outrageous that makes everyone give you their attention." She laughed, throwing back her head for a few seconds.

"True." She looked out into the water and jerked her head in that direction. "Check out Zane and Circe. They seem to be having fun." When I looked, it seemed that they were having a splash war and Zane was losing. He advanced closer and closer and then picked her up and dumped her in the water. She was laughing a lot. He was smiling widely. It was an adorable sight.

"They look good together."

"Yeah, they do. Zane will be good to her, once she learns to deal with his dry humour and profane language. You never know, she might change him. It's a win-win situation."

"People can't change other people."

"Not if they intend to change them and the other person is stubborn about it. That makes things worse. But if the person realises that they have some things to work on all by themselves even though the other person accepts them just as they are, then they'll have the will to change and follow through with it for the sake of being a companion that the other deserves. You changed me, didn't you?"

"I did?"

"You changed my mind about my tattoo. My language is a little better. When was the last time you heard me drop an f-bomb?"

"You know, I hadn't noticed it before, but even when you got hurt, you didn't say it at all."

"Total one-eighty from when we captured Circe. And look, now she's a member of Providence. We did good."

"Yeah, we did. Why won't you come swim with us? The water's nice."

"I was...praying for a bit...and talking to my brother. This place makes me nostalgic because of all the history I have here."

"Praying? What were you praying about?"

"Thanking God for being alive, praying that everything go smoothly today, praying that everyone will be safe, praying that we'll stay together for a long time."

"Well, amen to that." She chuckled.

She scooted closer to me and rested her head on my shoulder, her wrists still on her drawn up knees like mine. Bobo and Noah were playing volleyball and Noah was losing pitifully. I wondered what Six and Holiday would have been doing if they were here.

"I think Six would have still come in a suit and desperately hid his fascination at seeing Doctor Holiday in a bathing suit," Nina answered. I laughed.

"You really think they have a thing for each other?"

"It's so obvious the way Six tries so hard not to appear that he cares for her. She's more obvious with it. She actually looks at him like she cares. He just doesn't."

"Love is complicated."

"It only gets complicated the older you get. When you're young, love is free and inhibited."

"Wow. You're like a sage." She gave a small laugh which sounded so nice.

"I've learnt a lot over my life. Kent was a wonderful teacher and so is the open road. Experience is the best teacher."

I leaned my head onto hers and relished the feeling of her besides me. It was nice that we could just talk. It wasn't always intelligent conversation but we could just talk. It made me feel like the bond between us was more than just romantic. It was absolute. We were friends and we were in love. It was a combination as sweet as when we kissed that probably made every kiss feel all the more electrifying.

"Nina," I said softly.

"Hm?"

"Let's go in the water."

"Sure. The sun's stinging now." We got up, she took my hand and we headed out to where Zane and Circe were just standing.

When Noah noticed us heading into the water, he and Bobo came, too. Bobo didn't want to get wet so Zane offered to carry him on his shoulder. I could tell Bobo felt cared for. He and Zane got along pretty well, like most pets and their masters would get along. Zane told her that her blanket was flying away and when she turned around, he attempted to go for the strings at her neck. He got a kick to the head and Bobo got wet anyway. He got out of the water and the sun was so warm that he was dry in no time and back on Zane's shoulders. This dash of normal made me feel so enriched. This was how ordinary kids lived, with girlfriends and friends and going to the beach. I didn't feel like I was missing out anymore. Providence was being more lenient with us. I supposed I had Nina's big mouth to thank for that. Her big, rosy, soft mouth that made kissing feel like paradise.

We all played a game of volleyball. Zane, Nina and Bobo were on one side, Noah, Circe and I were on the other. Zane was tough competition. In the end, my team won by two points. After that, we decided to go eat all those burgers we packed. While we ate, Zane tried telling us about how ground beef was made, all the way from killing the cow and when he started talking about draining the blood, Nina punched him in the stomach and told him that if he kept talking while eating, he'd choke and die and she'd leave him there on the beach. I laughed so hard that time I nearly choked on my own burger. After that, we just hung out on the sand, drinking sodas and talking about any and everything.

"Hey, the sun is setting," Nina said. "Let's go look."

We all waded into the water a little and stood with the water around our ankles and looked at the large orange mass illuminating all the water and the whole scene as it started its journey away. Sunsets never looked more amazing than at the beach, I figured. The water was reflecting its majesty and its ripples made it look really cool. 'Amazing' didn't do it justice. Nina was holding my hand for the whole thing and it brought me back to a time when I wasn't sure how I felt about her. She was even wearing the orange dress from that time now. She had put it on after we'd gotten out of the water, after the volleyball game. It really did make her look instantly younger. I felt like the fifteen-year-old I was that day months ago.

Her hand tightened in mine just as the last of the sun went under. I looked at her and her eyes were on mine again. I thought for Nina to close her eyes and she did. Then I did what she had done back then. I let my lips go down to hers and I kissed her. Her arms came around my neck and my arms were around her waist and it was just me and her again on the beach. The perfect end to a perfect day. The kiss lasted as long as it could. It was slow and deep. Her tongue touched mine just barely as it had so many times before. But then, all of a sudden, it was stroking mine very softly in a way that made me feel like I was about to collapse. She broke the kiss just as I realised I was about to pass out from air loss. She smiled at me and I couldn't help but smile back.

"I love you, Nina."

"I love you, too, Rex."

Her lips came back to mine and the whole world blended into the background.

**Did some people seem out-of-character? Good. That was the point. Nina was supposed to make them all change. Do you think she was a cool character? Why not let me read your feedback. Thanks for reading. Please give a review, even if it's just a few words.**


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